I'm Here
by MaskedAngel18
Summary: Another vase gets broken by an introverted girl. She's now the chore-girl. However, she doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with other people. Can the Host Club figure her out and help her? How about a certain set of twins? HikaruxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! Welcome to my 15****th**** story! *Ducks for cover***

**To those of you who've been reading my other stories, I apologize for making you wait a bit longer for the next update. The way my mind works, I write whatever story comes to mind, even when I'm working on something else at the same time. As a result, updates aren't typically that fast for any of my stories. But they still get done!**

**Anyway, this is for all of the Ouran Host Club fans! Especially if you are fans of the twins! They are awesome! I hope you enjoy this first chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. The OC is mine.**

Chapter 1

At the top floor of the south campus, in the third music room at the end of the north corridor was a club called the Host Club. The Host Club was there to entertain all the female students who had too much free time.

Currently, everyone was wearing their regular uniforms instead of cosplaying as the boys typically did during the club's activities. The guys were doing their best to charm the ladies, and the ladies were all laughing and blushing at the compliments they were receiving.

Although at the moment, this didn't apply to all of the ladies. Off to one side of the room, away from the Host Club members and their guests was one girl wearing the yellow dress that was the school uniform. She had waist-length black hair with her bangs framing her face. Her gray eyes stared at the floor with a dull expression as she swept the area with the broom in her hands.

"Hey! Sachiko! Come over here!" She sighed. Just what could the twins want now? She hoped that it wasn't some prank.

She propped the broom up against the wall before walking over to where the twins sat with Haruhi. She said nothing, just stared at them, waiting for her orders.

"Haruhi is going to teach you how to make instant coffee so that you can make it for everyone," said the twins at the same time. Haruhi looked about as irritated as Sachiko felt, but Sachiko kept the same bored expression she had all day.

As she watched Haruhi heat up the water, she wondered just how she ended up here in the first place. Wait, never mind. She remembered exactly how she came to be here when she'd rather be alone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was just another boring day. Nothing new ever happened at this school. And the other students here were always the same. But that was fine with her. It meant that they left her alone when she wanted her solitude. People had long since stop bothering her ever since _that_ happened, since they no longer had a reason to try to befriend her.

However, they had an annoying habit of occupying all of the music rooms at the most inconvenient times. Honestly, some of the people weren't even practicing on an instrument, so why were they even there?

Oh well, if she remembered correctly, there was supposed to be an unused music room somewhere in the south campus. She should have some peace there.

It took her a while, but Sachiko finally found the room she was looking for. She couldn't hear a peep from within the room, making her hopeful that it was empty.

However, when she opened the door, she found 6 boys positioned around a couch, looking at her as though they were expecting her.

"Welcome." She stood there at the open door, staring at them with a blank expression on her face. She was disappointed that the room wasn't unused, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

"Sorry. I didn't know there was someone already in here," she said. She then turned to leave.

"Hey! Wait!" She looked over her shoulder, directing her half-lidded gaze at the blonde who spoke up.

"No need to be shy! I know that you might be overwhelmed by the sight of our beauty, but the Host Club is here to entertain young ladies like yourself. So come on in and choose who you want to accompany you this fine afternoon," said the blonde sitting on the couch in an extravagant way. She said nothing, just continued to stare at him blankly.

". . . I'm not here for this Host Club thing. I was just looking for an empty music room," she said in a flat tone. There was a look of shock on the blonde's face seemed exaggerated, but she didn't stay to watch him much longer.

"Hey! Wait!" he called out again, but she ignored him this time. Instead, she walked down the hall, wondering what to do now. She supposed that she could just find an empty classroom to read a book in, but that hadn't been what she wanted to do.

She had stopped her musings when she spotted a girl with long red hair standing next to an open window. Normally, such a sight wouldn't have caught her eye in the first place, but the girl's actions had come across as being peculiar. After all, it wasn't every day that someone chucked a book bag out the window. She stayed around the corner and out of sight as she watched.

She was thinking that the girl doing this weird thing looked familiar for some reason. She was still pondering this as the girl walked away. Soon after she left, a feminine-looking boy appeared in the hallway. It looked like he was looking for something.

Acting on a hunch, she walked out towards him. When he spotted her, he seemed to have recognized her.

"Hey, aren't you in my class?" he asked. Even more curious, he actually acknowledged her existence. She nodded.

"I don't suppose you've seen my book bag?" he asked. She pointed out the window, not offering any other explanation.

Haruhi followed the girl's finger out the window to see the bag he was looking for in pond out the window. Considering everything else that had been happening to him the past few days, it was clear that this was the work of a bully. His first thought was that the girl next to him had something to do with it, but what would her motive be? She was in his class, but all she ever did was sit at her desk and read. She'd never bothered with interacting with other people.

"Uh, thank you," he said as he ran past her down the hall. He could wonder about her motives later. Right now, he needed to get his wallet. It had his food money in it.

Sachiko watched as he ran past her . . . only to bump into the same girl that threw his bag out the window.

"Ah, I'm sorry," he said.

"Oh, hello. You are the peasant. Thanks to Tamaki-sama, you look a lot nicer now. Actually, you do look like one of our students now," said the red-haired bully. As she walked by him, she added, "Why don't you fix your faults in your upbringing, too?"

Sachiko glared at the redhead. She now remembered where she saw this bully. She'd remembered seeing her putting a razor blade in someone's textbook yesterday. This girl had a nasty personality.

Haruhi looked between Tamaki's best customer to the girl who was now looking at the redhead with a slight glare. Maybe he had jumped to conclusions when he suspected the black-haired girl. After all, she'd probably only meant to help when she pointed out his bag.

She watched him run off to go retrieve his bag. She wondered what she should do. Normally, she wouldn't care about what happened to other people, but that bully had really struck a nerve in her.

She walked off with half of an idea in mind.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . How did she end up here again?

In her decision to follow the bully to see what she was planning next, Sachiko had ended up back at the third music room, where the Host Club was. She never strayed from the door, but she had to remind herself that she had a reason for coming to a room full of swooning girls and the guys flattering them.

If it wasn't for the fact that the bully was now sitting across from her victim within the door's sight, Sachiko would have considered this visit a waste of time. She needed to figure out what that bully was up to.

She leaned against the door frame, watching the two of them. Luckily, she wasn't being noticed by anyone this time.

From her vantage point, it looked like the bully was trying to use another verbal attack. An attack that must have failed because, not only did the boy's expression not drop, he said something that had shocked her. The shock only lasted a couple of seconds before the bully knocked over the table and backed away.

"Help!" cried the bully, "Haruhi-kun suddenly became violent!" Sachiko frowned at the scene.

"I knew he was barbarous!" Sachiko stood tall as she stepped further into the room, determined to put a stop to this.

It was at that point that the twins from the Host Club both poured their drinks on the bully.

"Ah, I'm sorry."

"Our hands slipped." It was clear that they weren't sorry at all, but the action was enough to stop her from trying to intervene with the bully. Then, a guy with dark hair and glasses walked over to the bully, carrying photographs.

"Did you think we didn't know about it?" he asked, "Please don't look down on our information network. Of course, we have evidence on the other issue as well."

The bully turned from him to be face-to-face with . . . why was that elementary school kid wearing a high school uniform? Anyway, the kid looked scared and said, "This person is scary. She's like an oni."

Then the blonde she saw earlier got in the bully's face.

"You look beautiful on the outside." Then he backed off as the bully tried to stutter out an excuse.

"It's no good if you only look good. I'm sorry to say this, but can you please never come back? You cannot be a customer if you behave badly towards my fellow club member," he said with a note of finality in his voice.

After that, the bully ran out of the room crying. She sighed. Apparently, there had been no need for her here. She should have expected as much. Sachiko was about to leave herself when she got spotted by the Host Club members.

"Hey! It's Sachi-chan!" said the kid. And, of course, that caused six more pairs of eyes to focus on her.

"Oh! Have you changed your mind? I understand that, as a new customer, you must be feeling shy and out-of-place here, but I assure you that . . ." started the blonde.

"I'm not here for the Host Club," she interrupted, causing the blonde to freeze in shock.

"If you're not a customer, then why are you here? People don't go by the same room twice without a reason," said the twins in unison. She now recognized them as being in her class. She never got a chance to answer them because that was when Haruhi, the boy she saw earlier, recognized her.

"Hey! You're the girl from before," he said. She simply nodded, not saying anything.

"You know her?" asked the kid. Haruhi nodded.

"Yeah, she pointed out my bag in the pond today. She's also in my class. What brings you here?" he asked her. She shrugged.

"Nothing of importance," she said in a flat tone. Haruhi blinked at her, trying to figure out why she would come here if not for the Host Club like all the other girls.

"Hey, Sachi-chan! Do you want to eat some cake?" asked the kid. She was still wondering how he knew her name and why he had already given her a nickname.

"Since you knew where Haruhi's bag was, does that mean that you were part of the bullying?" asked the blonde, who had somehow managed to get within five feet of her without her noticing. That had unnerved her, even though she didn't show it.

"No," she said in the same flat tone.

"That's right. You hate bullies, don't you?" said Haruhi, who was looking at the girl as though he had figured something out. She gave him a questioning stare, signaling him to elaborate.

"Actually, did you come here to figure out what that girl was going to do to stop her from bullying?" he asked her. She didn't say anything. Her expression didn't show anything. All she did, after a few moments of silence, was turn her head away and said, "It doesn't matter anymore. I don't have a reason to be here now." With that, she started to walk away.

"Oh, don't be like that! If you came here to help one of my fellow members, then we have to do something to thank you for your efforts!" said the blonde, who had recovered and was now tugging on her arm. He was really starting to annoy her now.

"No," she said.

"Oh, come on! I'll let you try the commoner's coffee!" he offered, tugging on her arm again.

. . . Was he really in high school? He was whining like a little kid. Whatever the case, he was really annoying her now.

"I said no." She shoved him away with her free arm, getting him to let go. However, she hadn't expected him to trip over his own feet, causing him to hit the wall. That wouldn't have concerned her if it wasn't for the fact that the vibration from the hit had caused a vase sitting next to him to tip over from its spot on a table and smash against the floor.

Everyone stood still and silent for a few moments as it registered to them what had just happened.

"Consider that as an addition to your debt, Fujioka-san," said the guy with glasses.

"EH!" She blinked at the shocked expression on Haruhi's face.

"And just so you know, that vase was worth 5 million yen." Haruhi looked like he was about to die. It took her a moment to understand this. He was in her class, which was Class A. Everyone there was rich, except for one student who was rumored to be a poor scholarship student.

She understood the situation as soon as she finished that thought.

"Actually, that was my fault. I'll pay for it," she said, surprising a few of the boys there.

"Well, in that case, when can I expect the money from you?" asked the glasses guy. She hesitated for a minute.

"Actually, I'm not able to pay that amount right now," she admitted. Kyoya raised an eyebrow at her.

"Why's that? All you have to do is ask your uncle for the money, since I know he has it, Sachiko Narita," he said. So this guy did know who she was and what her situation was, just like most people in her class.

". . . It's not that simple. Can we work out some other arrangement?" she asked. He adjusted his glasses as he thought for a minute.

"Well, I guess there's no avoiding it. You're going to have to be the chore-girl until your debt is paid off." She was afraid of that.

"You can start today by sweeping up that mess you made."

"Kyoya! Don't be so rude! She's still a lady," protested the blonde.

"But she is now working to pay off a debt. Since she can't be a Host, she'll have to work," said Kyoya. The blonde sighed in defeat.

"In that case, I do apologize for the trouble, miss," said the blonde. She shrugged and went off to get to work. She had a distinct feeling that it was going to be a long while before she would have any free time after school again.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Yes, even though she wasn't poor like Haruhi (who, as they found out the same day she broke the vase, was actually a girl), she still had to do chores for the Host Club to pay off the vase. And since everyone _did_ know she was a girl, Sachiko didn't have the option of disguising herself to be a Host.

This was why she was now making instant coffee for all of the members while they continued to flatter all the other girls. She sighed. After she finished the coffee and swept the floor, she should have some free time to read a few pages from a book before Kyoya gave her another chore to do.

That had been what she did until the last guest walked out the door.

"Hey, Sachiko! You missed a spot over here!" said Hikaru.

"Sachiko, there are some dirty dishes on the table!" said Kaoru.

"Sachi-chan, do you want some cake?" asked Honey.

How much did she still have left to pay for the vase?

**And that's it for the first chapter! So, what do you guys think? Good, bad, needs some work? Reviews are really helpful in this regard.**

**The next update will come around when it can. In the meantime, I'll see ya around!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! If you are reading this, then I'm happy! It means that you were interested enough in this story to go beyond the first chapter! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!**

**As a note, I'm following the manga instead of the anime for this story. I just wanted to make that clear now, since there are some differences between the two.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. Sachiko is my OC.  
**

Chapter 2

It was Christmastime. So, one would expect the Host Club to do something festive, like mistletoe, or Santa, or a Christmas tree, right?

_Wrong_. What Sachiko and Haruhi saw upon entering the music room one afternoon was a setup for some kind of warm southern country.

"Oh, it's you guys. You're late," said Hikaru.

"I thought it was a guest, so we positioned ourselves," said Kaoru. Sachiko directed her blank gaze at them. She didn't care that she was late, but she was really hoping that they weren't going to double her workload or something just because she didn't care to be on time.

"Sheesh, does nothing faze her?" asked Hikaru, referring to Sachiko who was now getting her orders from Kyoya. She had been coming to the Host Club to work for a while now. As Haruhi was now accustomed to a lot of what they did, Sachiko, who had never once stepped foot in the room before the day she broke the vase, never looked shocked or surprised about anything.

"Well, we haven't done anything besides tell her what to do. And then she would just go to a corner and read until we give her something else to do," said Kaoru. It was at that moment that the twins got an idea as to how to get something other than a blank expression from her.

"Hey Sachiko!" She turned around, wondering what the twins wanted this time. From the looks of the evil grins on their faces, it wasn't anything good. They walked up to her on both sides, Kaoru carrying a bag in one hand.

"We gave it some thought," started Hikaru.

"And since we're all dressed up today, it wouldn't do to have you to just wear the school uniform while you work," finished Kaoru. She was getting a bad feeling about this . . .

"So go change into this before you get to work!" they said together as Kaoru shoved the bag into her hands and Hikaru shoved her into the dressing room. She flinched as the door slammed behind her, but at least they had the decency to give her some privacy.

Sachiko peeked into the bag to see what they had in mind.

. . . They had to be kidding her.

"This is a joke, right?" she asked Hikaru through the door. The twins smirked.

"Nope. As the chore-girl, you have to follow our orders. And we order you to dress up!" they said together. She tried the door. It wouldn't budge. Sachiko mentally cursed her situation. She was hoping that they would only order her to clean up after them. Leave it to the twins from her class to do something like this.

Knowing that she didn't have much choice in the matter, she got dressed. She just hoped that she would be unnoticed by everyone else.

As it turned out, she didn't have much luck. The two devils had immediately called her out as soon as she took three steps out of the dressing room.

"Sachiko! Can you go get our guests some treats?" That was when everyone noticed that Sachiko was wearing the girl's costume for today's theme. As much as she didn't like the yellow dress, she wished that she was wearing that instead of this.

What she didn't know and the Hosts did was that her costume was originally supposed to be Haruhi's, but she had refused and was still wearing her school uniform.

Determined to get the day over with as quickly and as painlessly as possible, she walked over to the snack cabinet, grabbed the treats, and walked over to each table with her head bowed down. She'd set the food down without as much as a word or a glance towards anyone.

"Sachi-chan! You look cute~!" said Honey when she came by his table with more cake (just how much cake could one person eat?). She still said nothing, but she was feeling a bit warm for some reason.

"Narita-san, I need you to tend to the animals here," said Kyoya as she finished passing out snack. Yes, on top of her regular cleaning duties, she had to look after the _live animals_ they brought in for decoration. These guys knew how to go over the top with this stuff.

Today was going to be more tiring than usual. She could tell already.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the guests had left for the day, Sachiko was finally able to change out of the costume. Of course, she had to wait for the guys to finish using the dressing room first.

"Do you really hate the costume that much?" asked Haruhi, the only person who didn't have to change. So far, after Sachiko had learned the names of everyone (excluding the twins, since she had been in class with them since the beginning of middle school and already knew them), the only person she found bearable to be around was Haruhi. She still didn't talk much to her, but she would talk to her more than to anyone else so far. Besides, Haruhi was the only one who would make much of an attempt at talking to her, anyway.

". . . It's not that I hate it. It's just that I wasn't overly comfortable having people stare at me while wearing this. I'm just here to do chores, so I don't see why I have to wear this," she said.

"Why didn't you just refuse?" asked Haruhi.

"They ordered me to, and since I'm here to take orders for my debt, I couldn't really turn it down. Besides, Hikaru locked the door on me, so I couldn't leave the dressing room," she said.

Yeah, that sounded like Hikaru. Haruhi took this moment to observe Sachiko. She learned that she was a very quiet person, but that wasn't what was weird about her. She would almost never change her facial expression. It was always blank, like she didn't care for anything. The closest she had gotten to change her demeanor was today after she was forced to get dressed. The whole time she had kept her head down as though she was embarrassed. Haruhi also swore that she saw Sachiko blush a bit when Honey complimented her.

Hmm . . . well, she wasn't in any rush to figure her out. Besides, if Sachiko wanted her to know more about herself, then she would tell her.

By the time Sachiko got in and out of the dressing room, back in the yellow dress, she was in time to hear Tamaki, who was brooding about some guest as far as she knew, say, "I cannot stand it anymore, Haruhi! Wear proper girl's clothing!" For the first time since she got here, Sachiko was actually interested in the conversation everyone was having.

"How can you be so popular among girls when you yourself are a girl? I tell you, it's only the club members and Sachiko that know you are a girl!" whined Tamaki.

"She's not taking PE classes since it's an elective and the student ID numbers are co-ed, so nobody would know," said the twins. Tamaki then started to rummage through a chest.

"Dad . . . Dad wants . . ." Finally, he pulled out a portrait of a girl who looked like Haruhi, except with longer hair and in a junior high school uniform.

"Dad wants to see you when you were like this!" cried Tamaki.

"Don't just enlarge my photo without my permission!" yelled Haruhi, who was angry about that.

"I wonder every time I look at this," said Hikaru, "How can this become this?" He referred to the picture of Haruhi to Haruhi standing behind them.

"I got bubble gum in my hair from my neighbor's kid on the first day of school. It was bothersome, so I cut my hair. As I told you before, I lost my contact lenses. My dad stepped on them a while back and they broke," said Haruhi. It wasn't the most impressive explanation, but it was blunt and to the point.

"I don't really mind being treated as a guy. I don't really care. Actually, that's better because I can finish my quota of 1000 people and pay off the debt of 8 million yen." Sachiko didn't miss how Haruhi addressed herself as a guy. Neither did Tamaki.

"MOM! Haruhi is using bad words!" he cried. Sachiko raised an eyebrow. Mom?

"Who's Mom?" asked Kaoru.

"Probably me . . ." said Kyoya.

". . . Why does it matter if Haruhi acts like a guy? It's not like she's going out with any of the girls or something like that," said Sachiko, who was standing near Haruhi. Somehow, she had gone by unnoticed until that moment.

"Whoa! She talked!" exclaimed Kaoru.

"She actually talked!" repeated Hikaru. The two twins surrounded her on both sides before she knew what was going on. They each threw an arm over her shoulders as they got real close to her face.

"Can you say something else?" asked Hikaru.

"Yeah, start talking. You're too quiet," said Kaoru. Sachiko only looked towards the ground, clamming up once again.

"Oh, don't do that!" complained the twins, seeing that one of their toys wasn't cooperating.

"Leave her alone, you guys," said Haruhi. The twins looked over towards her and, seeing that Sachiko wasn't going to be any fun now, went over to Haruhi.

"Ah, she needs to be more talkative. She never talks to anyone in class," said Hikaru.

"Anyway, do you have any experience in social dance?" asked Kaoru, changing the subject, "It's a must for the party." Haruhi grew nervous at that point.

"No . . . but the party doesn't count for the quota, does it? I'm not interested in the event, either, so I'd rather skip . . ." Unfortunately for Haruhi, Tamaki sensed her discomfort and came up with a plan.

"Fine! If you want to walk the road of men, let me help you! Social dance is a gentleman's common knowledge! If you can master the waltz in one week and show it off at the party, I'll reduce your debt by half!" Haruhi was clearly not pleased that she had to go. Sachiko considered herself lucky. She wasn't a Host so she wouldn't have to go to such an event.

"Oh, Narita-san." She turned to see Kyoya calling her.

"You're going to have to be at the dance as well to help with the setting up and cleaning afterwards. You don't mind, do you? It's not like you owe as much as Haruhi does," he said with a cold smile.

. . . Damn it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Everyone! Discuss Mr. Suzushima and Kasuga-hime's discord!" ordered Tamaki one afternoon. That was the discussion Sachiko walked in on when she came in late. She had no idea why the club seemed interested in those two people, but she didn't comment as she walked over to stand next to Haruhi. Technically, she was supposed to be cleaning, but she didn't feel like starting her chores immediately. Haruhi, as stated before, was one of the few who she deemed bearable. Surely, she wouldn't mind if Sachiko decided to hang out with her for a bit.

". . . Aren't you supposed to be having a dance lesson?" she asked. Haruhi sighed.

"Yes, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen," she said as she listened to the conversation the guys were having. Then she got an idea.

"I don't suppose you know how to dance, do you?" she asked. Sachiko shrugged.

"I don't really know much about dancing myself." The twins, apparently done with the discussion happening with everyone else, went over to Haruhi.

"Haruhi, how's your dancing coming along?" asked Hikaru.

"If I could practice today," Haruhi sighed.

"Well, I'm sure it'll be okay," said Kaoru. As the twins talked to Haruhi, Sachiko stood a few feet away from them, apparently forgotten.

"Narita-san, you can go ahead and start doing your chores now," said Kyoya when he spotted her just standing there. Sachiko sighed, feeling disappointed for some reason. She went over to the supply closet, now that she had nothing else to do.

When Haruhi looked over to talk to Sachiko more, she found the girl already working at a distance from everyone. She frowned. The girl was so distant from everyone. But didn't she just try to hang out with her? Haruhi made a note to ask the guys about her at a later time. For now, she had other things to worry about.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Why oh why did she not call in sick? That was a question that frequently passed through her thoughts during the Christmas party.

First off, she had arrived in her school uniform. She didn't really care about that since she was there as the help, not as a guest. But the Hosts (excluding Haruhi) did care, and the twins, upon seeing her, had thrown her into the dressing room with one of the dresses they had (why they had dresses with them, she didn't care enough to ask). She didn't mind wearing the floor-length gray dress, but she did mind that she was being forced to change when she wasn't even a key person there.

Then, of course, there had been some mad dash for the food that she had been included in for some reason. No one had yet to explain why there was such a need for fancy tuna, and she didn't appreciate all of the shouting.

Now, none of the Hosts were out, she was left to clean up the mess that food dash left, and she was in a room full of girls. Some of them were glaring at her for some reason.

She eyed the punch bowl to see that it was almost empty. She supposed that she should go refill that. She walked out of the room.

As glad as she was to be out of the house once in a while, she wished that she could spend this evening doing something much better.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, all of the Hosts were in a back room, getting Haruhi dressed for their plan.

"Why isn't Sachiko doing this? It would be much easier to do this with her since she's not hiding her gender," said Haruhi. It wasn't like the girl wouldn't be helpful. If they told her the plan, she would be smart enough to figure out how to do her role.

"You already know how the plan should go. Besides, she's not talkative enough to try to pull this off," said the twins. That and they wanted to see Haruhi in a dress, but they weren't going to admit that.

"Are you sure? Have you tried to talk to her?" she asked. The twins exchanged a glance as Tamaki barged into the room, wondering why everyone was back there at the same time. Since they still had a mission to complete, all talk about Sachiko Narita ended right there.

The twins went back to the ballroom to continue entertaining their guests before they had to go do the last step of their mission. However, they had just reached the dance floor when a loud crashing sound could be heard from the buffet table.

They went to investigate to see Sachiko on the ground, drenched in punch, and broken glass from a fallen punch bowl littering the floor around her.

"Hey, what happened here? You were supposed to be serving the punch, not bathe in it," said Hikaru. A couple of the girls around them laughed at the comment. Sachiko said nothing, and as she got up, said, "I was just going to replace the empty punch bowl with this one when I tripped. It's nothing." Her expression was as blank as always, but even she couldn't suppress a pained look when she discovered that she had twisted her ankle in the fall. The twins exchanged a look before addressing her again.

"I never took you for a klutz," said Kaoru as she slumped back down on her knees.

"But I guess it can't be helped," said Hikaru as the two of them each hooked an arm under her shoulders. She blinked at them, confusion barely visible in her eyes.

"We'll have someone else clean up this mess. You come with us," they said together. She limped along with them until they got to another room. This one was empty of guests, which Sachiko appreciated.

"You can sit here for now," they said as they placed her in a chair. As soon as she was situated, the two went over to a computer that was on and had an image of a Christmas tree on the screen.

"What are you guys doing?" she asked, somewhat curious.

"You'll see in a minute," they said. She decided to leave it at that. After about a minute of them messing with the computer, Kaoru went out to get a bag of ice for her. When he came back, he said, "We explained the situation to Kyoya. And since it's Christmas, he's only charging you 3/4ths the total cost of the damage you caused." She sweat dropped at the news.

"Great. Just great. Thanks Kaoru," she said.

"I'm Hikaru," said Kaoru, smirking. She frowned slightly up at him for a moment before shaking her head.

"No, I'm right and you're Kaoru. Nice try, though." Both of the twins were shocked to hear that, but she didn't see it because she was focusing on the ice pack on her ankle.

"Well, anyway, we better go see the show!" said Hikaru as he and Kaoru assisted Sachiko out of the chair the same way as they helped her before.

"What show?" she asked.

"You'll see in a minute," they both said. They placed her in a seat off to the side of the main room, but they made sure she was still able to see everything.

As it turned out, it was an interesting show. The twins, under Kyoya's orders, said that the winner would kiss Haruhi instead of Tamaki. And, in a (poor) attempt to stop the kiss, Tamaki had shoved Haruhi into the girl, causing her to kiss her anyway. Haruhi was now mad at Tamaki and the twins were laughing about it close by Sachiko.

It was definitely one of the most interesting holiday parties Sachiko had been to in a long time.

**Wow, this chapter ended up being longer than what I usually do. But I hope it turned out well and that you enjoyed it.**

**While I work on the next update, please review and let me know what you think about the story so far. Later!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome back! I don't have much to say before the chapter begins, so I'll go ahead and cut to the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. Sachiko is my OC.**

Chapter 3

"Narita-san, you're late again," said Kyoya as Sachiko walked through the door. The guests had already arrived and everyone was wearing a kimono.

"Sorry, I got held up," she said as emotionless as always. She went to work right away, not bothering with dressing up this time.

"What would hold you up?" asked Kaoru as she passed by the twins' table. She ignored the question as she went over to the supply closet.

"She's kind of rude, isn't she?" asked one of the girls at the twins' table.

"Eh, she's just not that talkative," said Kaoru.

"But enough about her . . ." said Hikaru as he went on to compliment the girls, making them forget about the chore-girl.

It wasn't the first time she didn't answer a question. She was also late quite frequently, but she obviously didn't care much about that last part. In fact, it didn't look like she cared much about the job she was doing, even though she had a debt to pay off. The guys were actually starting to wonder about her.

Towards the end of the club's activities, while Tamaki was giving Haruhi teacakes and Sachiko was reading a book in one corner, waiting for the guests to leave already, a new face had appeared at the door. Kaoru was the first to notice her.

"Huh? Aren't you a new face? What's wrong? Just come in," he said.

"Come~!" said Honey.

"Hey! Be softer to the new guest!" said Tamaki. He walked towards the new girl.

"Here, don't be scared, Princess. Welcome to Oura . . ." Tamaki never got to finish his welcome because the new girl shoved a hand in his face screaming, "DON'T TOUCH ME, YOU FAKER!" And that was the phrase that caught Sachiko's attention.

When she saw the new girl, after ripping Tamaki to shreds with words, glomp Kyoya, she figured that this would be more interesting than reading a book at the moment.

After all of the other guests left and everyone changed back into their uniforms, the girl revealed herself to be Kyoya's fiancé.

. . . Say what?

"Yes. I'm Renge Houshakuji. I'll be a first year in Class A tomorrow. By the way, I've grown up in France since I was 10," she said with an eager smile. Tamaki, meanwhile, was curled up in a corner like always when he was upset about something.

"See, he's angry," said Kaoru.

"All because Mom was hiding something from Dad," said Hikaru.

"Whatever. But are you going to keep that couple status from now on?" asked Kyoya, a bit annoyed.

". . . Maybe," said Sachiko, who was, again, standing next to Haruhi. This, again, brought the twins attention to her.

"She spoke again!" they exclaimed as they surrounded her. Haruhi sweat dropped, wondering if it really should be noted every time Sachiko said something.

"I've talked before, haven't I?" she asked in a bored tone.

"Yeah, but you hardly talk back like that," said the twins simultaneously. Renge, in the meantime, went on with her story, not listening to any of them.

"It was really love at first sight. Being affectionate to the backyard plants, which nobody paid attention to, kindly stretching his hand out to the injured kitty . . ."

" . . . I cannot imagine that at all . . ." said the twins.

"I agree with them," muttered Sachiko. She didn't go out of her way to know people, but she knew that wasn't Kyoya Renge was talking about.

"It must be the wrong person," said Haruhi.

"Wait, Haruhi! You should be more polite to Kyoya-senpai!" warned the twins.

"NO! My eyes are justice!" cried Renge, "Kind to everyone, and never asks for anything in return! Loves the solitude, but actually hates the loneliness!" Okay, seriously, WHO WAS SHE TALKING ABOUT? There was no way any of that was Kyoya!

"The throbbing love simulation game," Renge then pointed at Kyoya, "You! Who looks like Ichijo Miyabi-kun from 'Uki-Doki Memorial'!" Everyone was silent for a moment as they processed what she just said.

Then they understood. She was an otaku.

"Kyaa! This is my first time seeing an otaku!" said Hikaru. Sachiko looked up at the twins.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah!" said Kaoru, although the guys looked a bit scared by the realization. The only calm people were Kyoya and Sachiko.

"I see. A girl with a lot of interest in characters. She replaces me with her favorite character, makes me her fiancé, and gets lost in her wild fantasies . . ." said Kyoya.

"Her wild fantasies? Isn't she your fiancée?" asked Tamaki.

"I don't remember affirming that fact even once," said Kyoya. Sachiko could've groaned from that response. Seeing that the issue with Renge was promising to be a stressful one, Sachiko started to tune the conversation out, instead thinking of how much work she still had to do before she could go home.

She ended up regretting that when the twins placed a hand on each of her shoulders.

"Haruhi, Sachiko," said the twins plus Tamaki, who had a hand on Haruhi's shoulder. This did not seem good. Then EVERYONE (except Kyoya) took off on them.

"This is part of your host training, Haruhi! And your chores, Sachiko! Father will be cold-hearted!" yelled Tamaki. Haruhi and Sachiko stood there, stunned.

"Of course, if something goes wrong, both of your debts will be doubled," said Kyoya. Sachiko, for once looked bewildered.

"What just happened?" she asked Haruhi.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Those bastards . . . that thought was a reoccurring one as she stood in the kitchen, watching Haruhi and Renge bake cookies. Sachiko didn't know how to bake anything, so she sat in a chair on the side, watching the other two girls work. She didn't even get why she had to hang out with Renge. She just wanted to be done with her chores so that she could leave for the day.

"Sachiko-chan, are you sure you're okay over there? You can help me make the chocolate," said Renge. Sachiko shook her head.

"I'm not very helpful in the kitchen," she said.

"Well, baking is not that hard. I can show you how to make these cookies so that you can practice at home," offered Haruhi. She was about to turn down the offer when Renge grabbed her by the sleeve and pulled her up.

"Come on, now! You may just be a chore-girl, but there's no harm in learning how to bake. How else are we going to keep the store stocked if we have a shortage of bakers?" asked Renge. For some reason, Renge was under the impression that the Host Club was some kind of bakery. Sachiko didn't bother with correcting her. Too much trouble.

Meanwhile, outside of the room, the guys were watching this all through the crack in the door.

"Dummies! Are all your eyes knotholes!" cried Tamaki, when the others were pondering if Renge mistook the club for a bakery.

"In the room which is full of sweet fragrances and cute cookies, which are just baked, are three female classmates, who are getting along very well. Everything is well planned. This is one big project to make Haruhi realize she is a girl!" said Tamaki, "The gentle atmosphere that only girls can possess will aid Haruhi to realize she is a girl . . ."

"You're too noisy, Fake King," said Renge as she opened the door more. That sentence had sent Tamaki back to his corner, curled up and depressed again.

Sachiko walked out with Haruhi as Renge passed out her cookies. Cookies that none of the guys liked. While Renge terrorized Honey for his comment about the cookies being rocks, the twins walked over to Haruhi and Sachiko, where they were eating Haruhi's batch.

"Why didn't you bake any, Sachiko?" asked the twins. She shrugged, not offering an explanation. This irritated them slightly. What did it take to get her to talk? Since one of their toys was being uncooperative, the twins turned their attention to Tamaki, who was still in the corner. That was when they got a fun idea.

As Haruhi took a bite of another cookie (one that she made herself), Hikaru tilted her head up and took a bite of the cookie still in her mouth.

"Getting rid of a bad taste," he said, as though to justify his action. Sachiko raised an eyebrow, wondering what the two were up to now.

Then Kaoru came up to Haruhi.

"Hey Haruhi, you've got some cream on your face." Then he licked the cream off of her cheek. Sachiko figured out what they were doing as soon as she saw Tamaki's reaction to the scene. He was enraged.

"Kaoru, if you'd have just told me, I could clean it myself. And Hikaru, if you want some, there're more in here," said Haruhi, who seemed nonchalant about the whole thing. Tamaki then got in her face.

"You! You! Your reaction is wrong! You're supposed to reject them, not let them go!" he said.

"Calm down, Tamaki-senpai," said Sachiko as she took another cookie from Haruhi's batch.

"Your reaction is wrong, too! You're supposed to help your sister fend off perverts like them!" Sister? Since when were she and Haruhi considered sisters?

"Whatever," she said as she walked off to finish her chores so that she could go home. She was out of earshot when Renge said, "Everyone's characteristics are very bad!" That caused everyone to look at her in confusion except for the chore-girl.

"You lack any negative aspects, and girls find that dreadfully dull! Girls are weak for beautiful men involved in trauma! Girls will be bored with your so-called dummy actions soon enough! Are you trying to make Kyoya-sama's store go bankrupt?" She then went about saying what everyone's characters should be like, much to some people's annoyance. Except for Kyoya, who was "perfect."

"Now, I'm not including Sachiko-chan, since she's not a Host and not many people would be interested in her, but her character is pretty good already!" said Renge, indicating to the girl picking up dishes at the far side of the room.

"Really? What is her character?" asked Honey, curious.

"Isn't it obvious? She's the quiet loner who's been abandoned by her peers. She's a rich girl with money problems, which is why she is trying to pay off her debt by doing chores. And because she's been abandoned before, she's reluctant to let people in to hurt her again. All that's needed is for her to have an unrequited love interest and she's perfect!" said Renge. Haruhi looked over at Sachiko, who was still unaware of the conversation.

She understood that Sachiko was having money problems, although she didn't know how since Kyoya thought that she could afford the vase in the beginning. But abandoned? She was just a quiet girl who liked her space, wasn't she?

"But like I said, the other girls wouldn't be too interested in her since she isn't a Host. Maybe in some other project, she could be a key character?" pondered Renge.

Whatever Renge had planned for them, it wasn't bound to be pleasant for anyone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"CUT! FOLLOW THE SCRIPT!" yelled Renge as Honey broke character and cried, apologizing to Haruhi. That was when Sachiko had finally made an appearance on set. She could only stare as everyone went about the set and working with the equipment.

Since when did they decide to shoot some sort of film? Wait, never mind. She could see that Renge was clearly the director here. The idea of a film seemed like a plan she would come up with.

"Sachiko, you're late again," said the twins, who were sitting off to the side, taking a break. She shrugged, but again didn't say anything about the comment.

"Why are you late?" asked Hikaru. There was only a few times when Sachiko came in at the same time as Haruhi, but she was late more often than not. It had discredited their original theory of her being in the library, especially when Haruhi said that she'd never seen the girl in the library.

"I got held up by something," she said, not elaborating. They frowned at her. It was the same excuse she used every single time. She had never once said what it was that was holding her up. It was starting to get annoying.

"This script is so stupid," said Hikaru, changing the subject.

"There's no point in changing our characters," said both of the twins.

". . . I agree," said Sachiko. This made them do a double take.

"Whoa! She talked again!" She rolled her eyes. She was about to walk off on them when Kaoru grabbed her wrist and pulled her down into a seat in-between them.

"Hold on!" they said. She tilted her head, indicating that she was listening.

"What do you mean that you agree?" asked Kaoru.

"I meant what I said. Why do you ask?" she asked. This wasn't enough to satisfy them.

"Just give us a full explanation for once. Or you can tell us why you're late almost every day," said Hikaru. She sighed, but complied with the ultimatum.

"I did mean what I said. I agree with you guys. There's no point in changing your characters. There's no need to act traumatized. To be frank, I prefer the two troublemakers from class over the twins Renge has in mind." Hikaru and Kaoru were silent for a moment, scrutinizing her. He voice and face, as always, were blank. As far as they were concerned, she was being serious.

"I find that hard to believe, since you are a closet otaku yourself. I thought you would have found Renge's idea interesting," said Kyoya, who was standing nearby for some reason. It took a moment for the information to sink in.

"WHAT?" The twins were shocked, to say the least. She blinked at them.

"Actually, that's not right. I've never kept it a secret," she clarified.

"Then why didn't you say anything about it?" asked Hikaru.

"Because nobody asked me." Hikaru and Kaoru stared at her in disbelief. She didn't get why. She was only stating the truth.

"Besides, I think we can all agree that I'm not like Renge at all. Also, I don't keep my manga in the closet. I keep them on the bookshelves," she said, adding that last part as an afterthought. The twins blinked at her.

"Did you . . . make an attempt at a joke?" asked Hikaru. She looked down instead of answering. If they had to ask, it obviously wasn't a very good joke. Why did she try doing that, anyway? It wasn't like they were good friends.

Before they could question her again, Renge popped up from around the corner.

"Sachiko-chan, Haruhi-kun, can you two help me?" she asked. Before the twins could stop her, Sachiko stood up and walked around the corner with Haruhi, wondering what Renge needed.

"What is it?" asked Haruhi. What was waiting for them, besides Renge, were two guys from Class D.

"I'd like these people to be in the film, too," said Renge. Sachiko frowned, wondering why she wanted them to be in the film. They looked tough, but . . .

"There should always be bad guys in the climax! The club members unite upon being hurt by true villains! They're just the men for that position!" Then she understood. She was profiling them to be antagonists because they were from Class D. And the two guys didn't look like they appreciated that. This could not end well.

"Renge . . ." started Sachiko, but Renge wouldn't let her get a word in.

"The story ends wonderfully when the villains reform themselves after Kyoya-sama's touching line!" What did it take to get this girl to listen?

"Renge-chan, maybe it's convenient for you, but if you only see people 2-dimensionally, don't you think there's so much that you miss?" asked Haruhi. For a second, it looked like Renge could be reasoned with.

"I don't quite understand what you're talking about," said Renge, making that feeling short-lived, "Well, anyway, please come and stand by . . ." Renge grabbed one of the guys by the arm and started to drag him in one direction.

"Asshole! Don't just say whatever you want." The Class D guy looked and sounded really angry. Sachiko was actually worried about what might happen.

"Don't act so big-headed just because you're from Class A!" Sachiko stood there, not knowing what to do as Renge got shoved towards a metal structure. Haruhi managed to catch her, but she ended up taking the full force of the hit. Tamaki, hearing the commotion, ran around the corner. After seeing Haruhi cry, he and a few of the other members scared off the Class D students.

All in all, Sachiko felt completely useless in the situation, since she only stood in that one spot and watched it all happen.

"Hey, Sachiko! Are you alright?" asked the twins when they noticed her just standing there. She nodded. The excitement ended that day after Haruhi spoke with Renge about getting to know people.

However, after everything was said and done, Haruhi noticed something.

"Where's Sachiko? Wasn't she here with you guys?" Haruhi asked the twins. Hikaru and Kaoru looked around when they realized she was right. Sachiko was gone.

"She went home," said Kyoya, who appeared almost out of nowhere.

"Home? Why would she do that?" asked Kaoru.

"Because there wasn't much need for her here today, so I'd let her go home a while ago," explained Kyoya.

"Figures. She's no fun," said Hikaru, shrugging. Haruhi looked down in thought.

"What is it?" Kaoru asked Haruhi.

"I was just thinking. You said that Sachiko never talks in class, right?" she asked. The twins nodded.

"Well, there was a time when she did tried to socialize, but she'd stopped trying after a while," said Kaoru.

"Then why don't we talk to her during class?"

"Huh?" The twins frowned, wondering why Haruhi would want to do that.

"Well, she doesn't talk much, but I don't think she really likes being alone that much. Otherwise, she wouldn't talk at all when she comes to work. Maybe she just doesn't know how to talk to other people, so she avoids conversation because she thinks it would be awkward," she said. It made sense to her, even though she doesn't know with 100% certainty.

The twins exchanged a look before shrugging.

"Why not? Maybe she would actually be fun if she talks more," they said. And that was when the mission to make Sachiko socialize started.

**I'm not completely sure how well this chapter went, but this seemed to be the best product after a couple of rewrites. I hope you guys all like it!**

**Please, leave a review to tell me what you think of the story and I'll be back as soon as I can with the next update!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again! I'm back with the fourth chapter! I'm really glad about the feedback I'm getting from this story so far. It makes me that much more confident in this story.**

**Anyway, on with the show!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. Sachiko is my OC.**

Chapter 4

It was just going to be another day for her. Nothing special ever happened to her. Except getting into debt with the Host Club, but debt was never a good thing. In fact, she wished that the debt would disappear so that she would no longer have a reason to keep showing up there.

But that was a different train of thought. For now, she would focus on getting through the classes with as little trouble as possible. The only small annoyance was the fact that there was a change of seats today.

She already knew what she was going to do. She was going to sit off to the side and away from everybody else. That way, she could read her book and take notes in peace. When she had decided on that, the twins had suddenly shown up on either side of her. She wondered what they wanted as they hooked an arm under each shoulder and dragged her with them.

"What is it?" she asked, sounding bored. They didn't say anything until they plopped her down into a seat. When she looked around, she saw Haruhi one seat down from her. The twins then took a seat on either side of Haruhi. Hikaru was the one to sit between Haruhi and Sachiko.

"What's going on?" asked Sachiko, trying to make sense of their actions.

"We figured you're probably bored sitting by yourself all the time. Besides, we want to sit together," said the twins simultaneously. She raised an eyebrow at them.

". . . Why would you want to hang out with me during class?" she asked. People would typically leave her alone. They didn't have much of a reason to befriend her. Haruhi leaned forward over her desk so that she could see around Hikaru.

"Well, you're our friend. Even if you don't feel like talking, there isn't anything wrong with just sitting together, is there?" she asked. Sachiko blinked and her eyes widened by a fraction, which Haruhi interpreted as being surprise. She learned that if she watched her classmate closely, Sachiko gave subtle hints to what she was feeling at the moment.

"Is there?" asked Kaoru and Hikaru when Sachiko had yet to answer. Finally, she looked away and towards the front of the class.

"I guess not." It wasn't a direct yes, but she wasn't getting up to find a different seat. She even took her shoulder bag off and placed it next to her desk. All in all, Haruhi considered it as a breakthrough in getting the introverted girl to socialize with them more. So far, it looked like they were succeeding in their mission.

At the end of class, Sachiko got up and gathered her stuff. She was at the door when two hands on her back guided her out of the classroom. She didn't have to look over her shoulder to know that it was the twins.

"What is it now?" she asked.

"Nothing. We're just going to prepare for today's activities," they said. She frowned.

"But I'm not needed until later. Why do I have to go with you guys?" she asked.

"You're always late," said Hikaru.

"And Kyoya said to make sure that you're on time today," said Kaoru. They continued to guide her to the third music room. What neither of them noticed was the fact that her expression dropped slightly when she saw that there was no use trying to tell them anything otherwise.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Honestly, why did she have to be included when it came to the dress code of the day? In fact, why was she even included in the flower viewing?

Sachiko couldn't help but ask herself this as she walked around carrying tea. The whole reason she needed to be on time today was to help them set up outside for a flower viewing. She understood that. What she didn't get was why she now had to dress up and serve tea. Wasn't this what the Hosts were supposed to be doing today? Couldn't she just sit in a corner and read instead? She would help clean the place up afterwards, but there wasn't much of a need for her during the flower-viewing.

However, Sachiko's discomfort wasn't exactly on anyone's mind at the moment.

"Haruhi! How's it going? Are you having fun?" asked Tamaki when he spotted Haruhi.

"Maybe it's not as fun, because you cannot tie the necktie around your head as commoners do, but see! Originally flower viewing was to appreciate flowers!" he went on.

"Oh . . . kay," said Haruhi.

"But then, it's true that we're busier being appreciated than we appreciate something else. Oh, but that's always the case. Moreover, I'm the most spring-ish person now. Can you guess which part of me is spring-ish? I'll give you three minutes to think about it . . ."

"You brain?" Haruhi answered almost immediately. As Tamaki went back to his corner, the twins took this opportunity to surround Haruhi.

"Haruhi, have you decided on your electives for this quarter yet?" asked Hikaru.

"Let's take the same electives! See," started Kaoru, then both twins looked over at Tamaki with evil grins plastered on their faces, "We're in the same class after all."

Before they could go over their electives with Haruhi, however, a loud crashing sound caught their attention. Everyone looked over to see Sachiko standing to the side, surrounded by onlookers and covered in tea. Broken tableware littered the ground at her feet.

"Oh no! Are you okay?" asked one of the girls. Sachiko, as always, didn't say anything. Instead, she crouched down and started to pick up the pieces around her.

"Again, Sachiko?"

"You are such a klutz." She looked up to see the twins standing over her. She looked back down to continue cleaning up when the two picked her up by the shoulders.

"At least you didn't twist your ankle this time," said Kaoru.

"Come on. We'll have someone else clean that," said Hikaru as they steered her back over to Haruhi.

"Are you okay?" Haruhi asked her once they reached her. Sachiko nodded. There was slight confusion in her eyes, but she didn't question their motives.

"You need to learn to be more careful when serving drinks," said the twins. Then they pulled out a sheet of paper.

"Anyway, Sachiko, take the same electives as us!" said Hikaru. She blinked, surprised.

". . . Uh, ok." Even more surprising, she found herself agreeing with this plan. Whatever the reason for it, she felt a little happy about it. They had even decided on a few electives when Honey came up, looking as cheerful as ever.

"Haru-chan! When is your class's physical examination day?" asked Honey. What seemed to be an innocent question brought up a big issue concerning one of the Hosts.

Haruhi was a girl. Nobody else knew that.

Everyone stared at Haruhi as it registered to her what it meant as well.

"That is not good. I'll be found out," she said calmly. That was when the rest of the Hosts started to panic.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"I wonder what Formation A is . . ." Haruhi wondered out loud as they walked down the hallway. It was now the day of the physical examination and neither Haruhi nor Sachiko knew what was going to happen.

"Formation A?" asked Sachiko as she walked with Haruhi and the twins.

"Oh yeah, you weren't there yesterday when we discussed it," said Kaoru.

"You were later than usual. You came in just in time for Haruhi to agree to stay as a Host. Why are you always late, anyway?" asked Hikaru. She remained silent.

"That's a silly question, Hikaru. You already know what her answer is. She got held up by something. Although she'd never once said what it is that holds her up every time," said Kaoru.

"That's true. Maybe if we were to know what it is that keeps you so late, we could work out something so that you can be on time for once without us having to escort you," said Hikaru. Sachiko still didn't say anything.

"Leave her alone guys. What kind of physical examination does Ouran have, anyway?" asked Haruhi, trying to divert the twins attention from Sachiko. It worked.

"I heard there're not many differences in equipment," said Hikaru.

"It wouldn't be good if we had differences between rich and poor for this kind of thing. It's medical stuff, after all," said Kaoru. Haruhi felt relieved to hear that.

"Speaking of which, you can have one of the doctors check out your head, Sachiko," said Kaoru.

"I told you, it's just a small bump. It's nothing," she said. It really was, but since she went to the meeting yesterday with an egg-sized bruise on her forehead, the twins would not stop inquiring about it.

"Maybe if you stop being such a klutz, you would stop falling down and getting injured," said Hikaru.

"Hikaru!" scolded Haruhi. Sachiko just walked on. It wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, bruises heal eventually. She was going to be fine.

Finally, they arrived at the nurse's office and opened the doors . . .

"Welcome." Doctors and nurses lined the entryway for the students. This seemed to shock Haruhi.

"Are you okay?" Sachiko asked her, wondering why she seemed so surprised.

"Yeah. It's nothing," said Haruhi, although she sounded a bit annoyed by something. She was debating about asking when a nurse walked over to her.

"Ladies, this way please," said the nurse that was now escorting Sachiko away. Oh well. It was probably nothing.

"Narita-san, if you could come this way so that we can measure your height and weight," said the doctor in charge of her examination. Since nobody told her about doing anything for this "Formation A" thing, Sachiko went on to get her examination over with.

Her doctor was writing down the results of her vision test when a commotion caught her attention. She took a couple of steps out to see what was going on. Unfortunately, a few girls came running by and shoved her out of the way, apparently in a hurry to see what was going on. Sachiko teetered on the ball of her foot with her arms outstretched before spinning around and planting her other foot on the ground. She gave a sigh, seeing that her balance was now stabilized.

"Nice save," said the doctor, who was clapping and looked impressed.

"Narita-san, did you want to take a minute to watch the Hitachiin twins undress as well?" asked a nurse. Sachiko frowned. That was what the ruckus was all about? It must be part of the plan to keep Haruhi's gender a secret. And now that she was paying attention, she could hear the twins doing their brotherly love act for everyone in the clinic. Considering that she heard this on a daily basis, she felt no need to go watch this herself.

She was about to shake her head when the twins started to laugh their heads off. It only took her a second to see why. Just what was Tamaki thinking when he put a brown wig on and tried to impersonate Haruhi? There was still the obvious height difference and the blue eyes that gave him away in a heartbeat. It looked like the idea was a prank thought up by the twins because Tamaki was now trying to strangle Hikaru.

Someone, please tell her that seriously wasn't the plan to keep Haruhi in the Host Club.

Kyoya then walked by her with the real Haruhi in tow. Honey and Mori were also there for some reason.

"Don't worry. I've got everything covered," he said when he spotted Sachiko. She just nodded, understanding that there really was an actual plan in motion.

"Hey Sachiko! What did you think of that prank on Tono?" asked Hikaru.

"Funny, right?" asked Kaoru. Sachiko nodded. It did seem a little funny. However, the twins didn't find her convincing with that blank expression she kept on her face.

"You're not really laughing, though," said Hikaru. She was really starting to annoy him. Kaoru sighed.

"Oh well. We'll leave you to finish your examination, Sachiko," he said, taking Hikaru with him. Sachiko only nodded again before returning to her doctor.

"What makes Haruhi think that Sachiko wants to socialize with us? She hasn't done anything to give off that impression," said Hikaru to Kaoru.

"Maybe Haruhi sees something we don't. Either way, we said we try talking to her," said Kaoru. After Haruhi closed the door behind her in the special boys' clinic, a girl screamed nearby. The Host Club members overheard the girl talking about a weird doctor trying to assault her before disappearing out the window.

"What's that?" asked Hikaru.

"The quack doctor from earlier? He disappeared again," said Kaoru.

"Ah . . . Now I remember. He's not from my hospital," said Kyoya. The twins sweat dropped at the news. That was really something he should have mentioned earlier.

". . . A pervert," stated Mori.

"Ah, it's spring. It's the season to have several weird people," said Kaoru.

"True," agreed Honey.

"Such a stupid guy. He'll get caught soon enough unless he hides in a nearby classroom," said the twins. Then it hit them all at the same time. Haruhi was in trouble. Without wasting any time, they all rushed into the special boys' clinic.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As it turned out, the quack doctor really was in the boys' clinic with Haruhi. He just wasn't a pervert. After scaring him with their entrance, the doctor, Yabu, spilled his life story. His daughter left with his wife a month ago because of his bad management at his hospital. After finally finding Ouran to see his daughter, he was mistaken for one of the doctors that were supposed to be here. And that was how he got to be there, mistaken for a pervert.

Kyoya, on the other hand, pointed out the doctor's mistake. He had the wrong high school.

Tamaki, wanting to help the man, had Hikaru and Kaoru draw a map to the right high school for him.

When everything was said and done, Haruhi said, "Would you all mind leaving? I still have to take the physical exam as a boy."

Relieved as they all were that Haruhi was okay (and after dragging Tamaki off of Haruhi because he kept hugging her), they all exited the boys' clinic. The twins were mildly surprised to see Sachiko waiting for them outside of the door.

"What's up?" they asked her as the rest of the club members dispersed.

"I heard there was a pervert running around, then I saw you guys rush in there," she said.

"Oh, don't worry about that. That's already been taken care of," they said in an almost bored tone. Sachiko gave a slight sigh.

"That's good. I thought something might have happened to Haruhi for a minute there." Hikaru and Kaoru stared at her, surprised.

"Wait. You were worried?" asked Hikaru. Sachiko looked down, not answering the question with words.

"If you were worried, why didn't you come in to see what was going on?" asked Kaoru.

". . . Because that room is supposed to be a boys' clinic," she said, looking up to give him a flat stare.

"Oh . . . right," they said, realizing their mistake.

"Well, as long as everything's okay, that's fine with me," she said, walking away. Now that there wasn't any danger, she could go find a quiet place to read her book.

The twins, however, just stood there, staring after her.

". . . Maybe Haruhi had a point about her, after all," said Kaoru. Hikaru nodded.

"In that case, she really does need a lot of help," he said. Kaoru shrugged.

"Well, there's no rush. She's going to be working for the Host Club for a while longer still. Even then, she's in our class," said Kaoru.

"Yeah." With nothing else to do, the twins went off to go bother Sachiko more.

**I hope you guys liked this chapter as well. I know that I'm not having Sachiko do much right now in the canon story, but that's because she starts off as a mildly important background character. She'll have more to do as time goes on, but for now, she's mainly on the sidelines. Her story will happen eventually, just not immediately.**

**Please, leave a review telling me what you think so far and I'll update as soon as I can. Later!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Welcome to chapter 5! Now, Sachiko is a bit more directly involved in this chapter, however, I'm not sure how I feel about it. It seems fine in some parts, but I still feel unsure about it.**

**Anyway, time for the show!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Host Club. Sachiko is my OC.**

Chapter 5

_She ran through the forest, trying to lose her pursuers. She was breathing heavily, her lungs trying to keep up with her pace. The full moon lit her way, making it easier for her to run through the underbrush. But she knew that the same was true for those behind her. She made it behind a huge, dying oak tree and skidded to a stop. She tried desperately to calm down her breathing, but each breath still came out as too loud. She feared captured._

_Suddenly, a twig snapped from her right. She turned around to –_

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Sachiko stopped walking as a dark-colored blur ran by her screaming bloody murder. She looked up from her book to see who was screaming, but the person was already out of sight by the time she looked over her shoulder.

She hummed as she looked back down at her book. She took note of the page number before closing it and placing it back in her shoulder bag. Maybe today wasn't a good day to read and walk at the same time . . .

When she got to the third music room, she was greeted by the sight of Tamaki chewing out the twins. Curious as to what they had done, Sachiko walked over to where she saw Haruhi.

"What happened?" she asked. Haruhi looked over to see Sachiko looking at her inquisitively.

"Well . . ." A long explanation and about an hour later, Sachiko was presented with two helpers.

After crossing the line with Tamaki over the issue with the website and a scare that involved someone from the Black Magic Club, the twins were now prohibited from having customers for the next two days and they had to help Sachiko with her chores. The twins, to put it simply, were NOT happy about the arrangement.

Sachiko was sweeping the area around them as they grumbled. The two were sitting on a couch, sulking. She sighed.

"Are you two going to be like that all day?" she asked. Maybe if she tried to distract them with conversation, the two wouldn't come up with a revenge scheme about their punishment. Odds were, whatever plan they would come up with would leave a big mess. A mess that she would have to clean up later. She wasn't keen on that idea, so a distraction from their thoughts was necessary.

The twins looked at her, surprised that she was the one initiating a conversation. She didn't catch it, since she was looking down and sweeping.

"Maybe . . ." started Kaoru.

"Unless, you let us come to your house to play," finished Hikaru. Sachiko stopped sweeping and looked up.

"Why would you want to do that?" she asked. Her expression and tone still appeared bored, but she actually was curious.

"Haruhi won't let us go to her house, and we're bored," they said. She should have figured as much.

"But why would you want to go to my house?" she asked.

"We've never been there, and we're interested," they said. Sachiko frowned as she went back to sweeping.

". . . I don't think that's a good idea," she finally said.

"Why not?" asked Kaoru.

"It's not like you're a commoner like Haruhi," said Hikaru.

"It's just not," she said. She was hoping that they wouldn't persist. The twins frowned at her.

"Then tell us why you're always late?" they asked. She frowned. They always asked that question. The reason she was late had nothing to do with why she was at the Host Club every day, so why were they so concerned about it?

When she still didn't answer them, the twins came up with another idea on how to get her to talk.

"How about this?" they asked as they got up and walked over to her. She looked between the two of them warily as they surrounded her on both sides. Then, without warning, Hikaru and Kaoru spun her around as fast as they dared while walking in a circle around her.

"W-Wha?" The twins were glad to see that they managed to get Sachiko to look bewildered for once. Haruhi was used to their antics by now, but Sachiko could still be surprised. This was giving them several ideas to use on her later.

Sachiko was slightly dizzy when they stopped spinning her, but she held her ground as she looked up at the twins. They were smirking at her, as though highly amused by something.

"We're going to play the 'Which one is Hikaru-kun' game!" they said. Sachiko frowned at them.

". . . Huh?" Were they serious? Why did they want to play that game now?

"If you win, you have to tell us why you're always late," said Hikaru.

"And if you lose, we get to go to your house to play as a penalty," said Kaoru. So either way, they would get what they want.

"I already know which is which, though," she said. The twins got in her face at this point.

"Oh really?"

"Then prove it." Sachiko sighed. She pointed to the one on her left.

"Hikaru." Then she pointed to Kaoru.

"Kaoru."

"Wrong!" They cheered. It wasn't because they wanted to go to her house that bad, but because they wanted to throw her through a loop. Sachiko shook her head.

"You guys aren't going to trick me like that again. I know the difference between you two now," she said with conviction. They looked at her with wide eyes.

"And what difference are you talking about? Also, this is the first time we're playing this game, so how can you be so sure?" asked Hikaru. Sachiko blinked at them.

"Actually, we played this game before," she said. They frowned at her.

"When did we do this?" asked Kaoru. They were racking their brains, but they couldn't remember.

"Back in junior high. You gave me two weeks to figure out the difference between you guys when I asked to hang out with you. You two would constantly say I got it wrong whenever I guessed, and I couldn't tell if you were lying," she said. Then it hit them.

"Oh yeah, I remember now," said Kaoru, "You dropped out of the game during the second week." It had been during that time when she tried to talk to other people. She had been persistent during their game, but he couldn't remember why she dropped out of it.

"Wait. If you figured out a difference between us, then why did you drop out of the game? It doesn't make sense to stop playing a game you were going to win," said Hikaru. Sachiko looked down. Her face was blank, but there was an indescribable change in her demeanor. She walked away to sweep.

"Hey!" The twins grabbed her by the shoulders, not letting her get away.

"We've asked you several questions now, and you haven't answered any of them," said Kaoru.

"You didn't even answer the question from winning the game, and that is starting to get really annoying. So, start talking," said Hikaru. Sachiko could sense that they were running out of patience with her, but there were some things she didn't want to talk about.

". . . Fine. I'll talk," she said, sounded a bit defeated. The twins looked at her expectantly, although they kept a grip on her shoulders.

"The difference between you two is that Hikaru is more mischievous than Kaoru." While they were shocked by her statement, Sachiko took the opportunity to free her from their grip and get out of their range. However, instead of the chase she was expecting so that she would answer more questions, she was surprised to see the twins still standing there when she looked over her shoulder. Then, Kaoru started to laugh.

"Sorry . . . Hikaru," laughed Kaoru. Hikaru shrugged.

"I must make this clear, that's because I do not attempt to hide myself hypocritically. And if we are to talk about being mischievous, that should really be your forte, Kaoru." Kaoru stopped laughing. Sachiko looked between the two. They both looked serious now.

"Please don't spout nonsense, Hikaru. It's always been me tolerating your stubborn ways."

"Even if I am the brain behind the plots, the one who deeply planned every execution is you, Kaoru. If you don't like it, don't do it, fool."

"You are so silly, it's pathetic. I can't take it lying down. You're even the one who came up with the toy concept."

Sachiko blinked as she watched the two argue. She had never seen the two of them argue before. It was a strange sight, considering how in sync the two of them always were.

"Hikaru, actually, you like Haruhi, right?"

"Huh?"

"What?" screamed Tamaki. That was when Sachiko realized that everyone else was paying attention to the twins' argument.

"It's so obvious. You are always touching her!" said Kaoru. Hikaru looked flustered, but annoyed.

"Why do you have to say that? You really are an idiot," said Hikaru.

"Yeah, Kaoru. In this world, there are certain things you can say, and things you can't," said Tamaki.

"Why would I like someone who is like a little fox?" asked Hikaru. Kaoru seemed to be ignoring the question.

"Who is the little fox? How dare you look down on my child!" screamed Tamaki. Sachiko briefly wondered what Tamaki's problem was. Haruhi wasn't his child and she didn't see how Hikaru possibly liking Haruhi concerned him. Sachiko's train of thought was sidetracked when a familiar voice said, "This is too attractive!" Everyone turned to see Renge gushing over the scene.

"There is actually a love-quadruple surrounding Haruhi! And it's a quagmire plot that two of them are twin brothers! Renge can have three bowls of rice!"

. . . Didn't Renge go back to France a while ago? Why was she still there? Sachiko hoped that Renge wasn't going to drag them into another film shoot.

"Get lost, otaku," said the twins. At the sound of them talking simultaneously, Sachiko retained some hope that the twins were getting over the argument.

"You'd better stop while you can. Your mathematical results are obviously lower than mine! You shortie!" yelled Hikaru. Sadly, that hope was short-lived.

"Hikaru, you should work so much harder in your language abilities! You fatty!" yelled Kaoru.

"Uh . . ." Sachiko wondered if she should bring up the fact that their appearance was identical.

"You're irritating every time you burrow into my blanket while I'm asleep!" yelled Hikaru.

"What? I only did that because I thought you were lonely!"

"Um . . . guys . . ."Sachiko tried to raise her voice, but she proved to be too meek to overpower the escalating fight.

"What! Do you want to fight?"

"Pervert!"

"Sicko!"

"YOUR MOTHER WEARS TOO MUCH MAKE-UP!" they both shouted. They glared at each other for a moment before shouting, "SEVER ALL TIES!"

Sachiko blinked at the result of the fight. All she did was answer one question honestly, so how did this happen?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, Sachiko took her seat with some trepidation.

"Sachiko, are you okay?" asked Haruhi. So far, out of their group, only she and Haruhi were sitting at their desks. The twins had yet to show up. Sachiko nodded.

"I'm fine. It's just . . ." she trailed off, wondering how to word the next phrase. Haruhi seemed to understand what was on her mind.

"Is it about Hikaru and Kaoru?" Sachiko nodded.

"Don't worry about that. The fight wasn't your fault. They wanted you to answer their questions and you did. At least one of them," assured Haruhi. It didn't exactly help her feel better, though.

"But, you weren't being fair. After all, you wouldn't even give an explanation as to why you wouldn't answer the rest of their questions." Okay, Sachiko was pretty sure she felt something stab her there. She looked down at her desk.

"We're your friends, right? You may not have to answer every question, but an explanation as to why would be nice." Sachiko sighed.

". . . It's just that . . . there are some things that I really don't want to discuss. And they don't concern the Host Club, so I really want to avoid those topics whenever I can," she admitted.

"Why didn't you just tell them that?" asked Haruhi. Sachiko shrugged.

"Although the reason why I'm late isn't one of those. It's just something I want to keep to myself," said Sachiko. Haruhi nodded. She could understand if Sachiko wanted to keep things to herself. She just wished that Sachiko had said that upfront instead of trying to run off.

Sachiko was about to open her book to read when Haruhi noticed someone walking towards them.

"Hikaru?" Sachiko looked up to see the twin question walking towards her and Haruhi. There was just one thing different about him. His hair was pink. Sachiko widened her eyes in surprise.

"Morning," he greeted the two.

"You are attracting a lot of attention," pointed out Haruhi. Sachiko stared as he took his seat. Unfortunately for her, he noticed.

"What is it?" he asked.

". . . Why did you dye your hair pink?" she asked. It was a really odd thing to do, even for one of the twins.

"'Cause it looks good on me," he said, "I am cute, right? From today onwards, I'll be the pink one. I can't stand it when other people keep mistaking me for that Kaoru." Sachiko sweat dropped when she noticed Kaoru at the doorway when Hikaru said that. It looked like he heard him, too. This wasn't going to turn out well.

"Haruhi, Sachiko, good morning!" said Kaoru as he approached his desk. Sachiko mentally begged for him to take the high road.

"Last night, just when I thought I could finally get to sleep alone elegantly, I had such a horrible nightmare. I can't believe I dreamt that I dyed my hair pink. What a disgusting thing to do, it'd make me look stupid," laughed Kaoru. Sachiko could have face palmed at that moment. Hikaru, on the other hand, opted to pull Kaoru's chair away as he sat, making his twin fall to the floor. Kaoru retaliated by tipping over Hikaru's chair. Thankfully, Hikaru didn't crash into Sachiko on his way down to the floor, but now the twins were glaring at each other.

Sachiko decided to mimic Haruhi at the moment and returned her attention to her book. This was going to be a long day.

The situation proved to be even more tense when they had to go to another classroom. At first, the twins were both dragging Haruhi by her hands while glaring at each other. Sachiko trailed behind them, wondering if they were really expected to take sides in this argument.

"Haruhi is coming with me," said Hikaru.

"No, with me," said Kaoru. Sachiko gripped the strap of her shoulder bag tighter as she took a deep breath. She had to do something about this.

"Um . . . guys . . ." All three turned their head to see Sachiko looking down on the ground, as though she was nervous.

"I understand that you guys are arguing, but this is no way to . . ." Unfortunately, that was as far as she got with her argument. Kaoru, after getting an idea, walked over to Sachiko and grabbed her wrist.

"Sachiko comes with me, then," he said. Sachiko looked up at him, taken aback. Hikaru frowned.

"No. She and Haruhi come with me," he said. Kaoru shook his head.

"You can't have both to yourself. Since you want Haruhi so bad, Sachiko comes with me."

"But she and Haruhi are friends," pointed out Hikaru.

"I'm not stopping her from being friends with Haruhi. She just can't be with you at the same time," said Kaoru. Sachiko opened her mouth to protest this only to close it again. She wanted to tell them they were acting like children, but words seemed to fail her at the moment.

In the end, Kaoru was the one to drag her off and Hikaru ended up dragging Haruhi to class. To be honest, she didn't get the point of that argument since they were all going to the same classroom anyway. The only difference was that the two had switched seats, so now Kaoru was sitting next to Sachiko.

Kaoru did try to engage Sachiko in conversation, but she would only give short responses. She wasn't mad at him. She just wanted the fight between the twins to be over with.

**So, what do you guys think? I'm a bit nervous about this chapter. I also feel like I just threw in a bunch of questions involving Sachiko and little to no answers. I do plan on answering them later, but I'm not sure if this was too much or not.**

**This is where the reviews come in handy. Please tell me what you think and if any improvements can be made. **

**Also, there is a quote from the anime I inserted in this chapter just for the fun of it. Can you guess which one? (Hint: It's in the sub version. I don't know about the dub version.) In the meantime, I'll get working on the next chapter and I'll be back as soon as I can. Later!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, this took longer than anticipated. Got busy with a part-time job (and needing a nap shortly after my shifts). But I'm back!**

**I'm honestly surprised at all the positive feedback I'm getting about this story. I wasn't sure how well-received Sachiko would be, so the reviews really helped! I'm really happy about this! :D**

**Anyway, time for the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Host Club. Sachiko is my OC.**

Chapter 6

It was only lunchtime now, yet Sachiko felt like she had just attempted to pull an all-night study session. She had seen people fight before. She even found some arguments kind of funny and entertaining to watch. But most of the time she found them annoying and distracting because she found the issue her classmates would argue about being pointless and easy to resolve if they compromised. So why was this particular fight making her so stressed out?

Sachiko and Haruhi were both dragged into the lunchroom by the twins. Kaoru got Sachiko and Hikaru got Haruhi. Then, leaving the girls behind, they joined the lunch line to get their food. Sachiko didn't join the line since she had a box lunch, but she did look over to see the twins ordering the same thing at the same time. They didn't seem to like that because they then glared at each other. She sighed as they continued to fight, taking their rage out on the poor cafeteria workers.

Maybe it was because it was disconcerting to see the twins fight for the first time. Maybe it was because she felt that she could call them her friends, if not acquaintances. Or maybe it was because she was somewhat to blame for them fighting in the first place. Whatever the reason, this fight really needed to end soon.

She watched as Honey tried to put a stop to the fight by offering cake. This plan (not surprisingly) failed as Honey's interference only made them that much more irritated and Honey ran off crying when the twins started to yell again.

Sometimes, Sachiko was surprised to know that Honey was one of the oldest students in the club. Everything about him screamed 'little kid." But that wasn't the issue right now.

"Ahh! Haruhi! It's really rare to see you in the students' cafeteria. Are you here for me?" Tamaki asked Haruhi, having spotted her standing there. Sachiko went unnoticed.

"No. We were dragged by the two of them. I usually eat my boxed lunch in the classroom with Sachiko," said Haruhi. It was true. Every day the two of them would eat lunch in the classroom. They wouldn't normally talk with each other, though. Haruhi would sometimes study and Sachiko would read a book. Whatever the case, they both enjoyed what was probably the only time during the day that they got some real peace and quiet during school. It was something that suited the two of them. It was only different today because of the twins.

"Hey, Haruhi, Sachiko! There are some empty seats here," pointed out Hikaru. Haruhi was the first to take a seat next to Hikaru. Sachiko was going for the seat on the other side of Haruhi, but Hikaru stopped her by grabbing her wrist. He then directed her to the other seat next to him. Sachiko stared down at the table as she sat, feeling a bit uneasy. She had a feeling Hikaru was trying to provoke his brother, since Kaoru was the one demanding her attention today.

Of course, after that Hikaru returned his attention to Haruhi.

"What's in your lunchbox?" he asked.

"It's yesterday's leftovers, hotchpotch and eggs, sunny side up," said Haruhi. Hikaru shoved his tray over to her.

"I'll exchange yours with mine. I don't like these," he said. Meanwhile, Sachiko was digging into her own lunch. She would have to remember to thank Seras, her maid, later for packing her food. Cheese-stuffed ravioli was one of her favorite foods. For a while, she ignored the people around her in order to feel that much less stressful as she ate. A decision she would regret because she was unaware of Kaoru sitting next to Haruhi and trying to feed her some of his food. This caused a food fight to erupt between the twins. Of course, she did notice the food fight when Hikaru dodged a bowl of pudding and it landed on her head upside down.

"Ah! Sorry Sachiko!" said Kaoru when he realized what happened. Sachiko said nothing. She stared down at the table for a moment before packing her food up and removing the bowl from her head. She could feel the pudding sliding down the back of her head and onto her shoulders. Just what she needed. A stained uniform.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Hikaru. She still said nothing as she got up and walked towards the door.

"Now look what at what you two did!" yelled Tamaki. He walked over to Sachiko.

"I'm so sorry for those two delinquents. Is there anything we can do for you?" asked Tamaki, sounding sincere.

"No. Now leave me alone," she said bluntly. Tamaki froze from shock. There weren't many girls in the school who would turn him away so easily, and it still shocked him every time Sachiko did it. By the time she left the cafeteria, Hikaru and Kaoru's food fight had resumed.

"HEY! Stop it both of you!" yelled Tamaki. However, a fork was thrown at him during the chaos and he had to do a sort of limbo dance to dodge it. Unfortunately, the fork landed in the vice principal's soup and splashed it all over his face. As he wiped his face, the vice principal asked, "Who is the main culprit?" Hikaru and Kaoru both pointed at each other, but since Tamaki was between the two of them, it looked like they were pointing at him.

As a result, Tamaki got reprimanded by the vice principal and the whole Host Club had to clean the cafeteria after class.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sachiko walked into the third music room to see all of the Hosts (except the twins) sitting around a table. They all seemed tired for some reason. Instead of asking them what was wrong, she went to start on her chores. She had managed to get most of the pudding out of her hair after she left the cafeteria, but her uniform was stained. She would have to wait until she got home and recruit Seras' help to clean it.

"Oh, hey Sachiko," called out Kyoya when he noticed her. Sachiko looked over at him, wondering what he wanted and at what point did he decide to call on her so casually?

"You don't have to worry about any responsibility, okay? Even if the sentence that sparked this catastrophe was made by you. And we don't mind cleaning the cafeteria at all," he said with that cold smile she recognized. She was unnerved by that. He was clearly blaming her for the twins fight (what else could he be talking about?). But what she didn't get was what he meant about the cafeteria. Since when did they have to clean the cafeteria? And why was she at fault for that? Did the twins' food fight get worse when she left?

"This is the first fight between Hika-chan and Kao-chan," said Honey as he ate more cake.

"Is that so?" asked Haruhi.

"I have known them since kindergarten, even though I have never talked to them. They were always playing by themselves," said Honey.

"Yes. I've known them only since junior high school, but they looked odd among other people. It seemed they didn't want other people to come close. Their personalities were worse than now, too," said Tamaki. Sachiko looked down in thought as she listened to the conversation. She remembered how the twins were like during junior high. However, because she had just transferred into the school during that first year, she had thought that she had a chance of befriending them. Of course, that went downhill pretty fast . . .

"Come to think of it, I feel that these fights and quarrels may not be a bad thing. At least, their world has expanded. So now, the best thing to do is to leave both of them alone . . ." And then, somehow, Tamaki had set off a trap. A trap that involved spears being chucked at him. The twins, who were hiding behind separate statues, ran off when Tamaki spotted them.

"I must definitely punish the two of them!" he screamed as he pursued them. Haruhi watched as she thought about the situation. If the twins had never fought before, then they probably didn't know how to stop fighting and make-up with each other. So that meant that someone needed to teach them how . . .

With that though in mind, she went to follow them. It was when she spotted Sachiko in her peripheral that she decided that Sachiko should come as well. After all, Haruhi needed to make sure that they apologized for the trouble they were giving her and so that she could explain that she didn't want to talk about certain things.

"Come on," said Haruhi as she grabbed Sachiko's wrist and dragged her along. Sachiko gave her a questioning look, but she followed silently, if only to see what Haruhi wanted.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When they finally caught up to the twins and Tamaki (who got hit by every trap the twins had set), Hikaru was shouting at Kaoru.

"Being treated by the others as you, I am already fed up and sick with all that. Actually, I hate you the most!" Sachiko stared at the scene, her shock visible on her face.

"Regarding that, I've always wanted to tell you, too. Look at this!" Kaoru then pulled out a wooden cat-shaped doll.

"This is a cursed voodoo doll I got from Nekozawa-senpai!" Tamaki was the only person overly shocked by the presence of the voodoo doll. Sachiko went back to giving a blank stare. She wasn't sure how to react to that. After all, voodoo only worked in the fiction books she read. It didn't actually work in real life, did it?

"Your name has already been engraved on the back of the doll, Hikaru. Now I will let you taste the same anguish and pain as the voodoo doll!" Sachiko took a step forward. Whether or not if voodoo worked beyond movies and fiction books didn't matter. The malicious intent behind it was still real. _That_ needed to stop.

". . . Kaoru, that's not . . ." Her voice, once again, went unheard.

"I'll make you . . ." Kaoru raised the doll over his head, as though to throw it to the ground with all his might.

"STOP THAT!" shouted Haruhi as she hit both of the twins upside their heads. Everyone watched in shock as the twins rubbed their now sore heads.

"Don't use that kind of thing for such a stupid quarrel! Both of you are bad, and causing trouble for people around you is worse! Now apologize to everyone! If you two don't make up and shake hands now, you two will never set foot in my house in this lifetime!" yelled Haruhi. After a moment of silence, the twins both gave an evil grin.

"Then, if we call it a truce, we can go to your house?" they asked. Hikaru was now holding up a script and Kaoru was revealing what was written on the back of the doll. It was the word "Fail." Everyone could only stare in disbelief.

"I am so sorry, Kaoru! Even though I was only following the script, those words were really too much! I'm not fit to be your older brother!" said Hikaru in what Sachiko recognized as the tone the twins always used for their brotherly love act.

"Don't say that!" said Kaoru, continuing the act, "I was so worried that you would get hurt. What would I do then?"

"What? So it was all fake?" asked Honey.

"Yeah because we were really bored," said both of the twins.

"That was it?" asked Haruhi, who looked drain after seeing that she fell for the twins' ruse. All of that stress was for nothing, then?

"Well, we also wanted to get revenge on Sachiko," said Hikaru.

"Since she wouldn't cooperate with us," finished Kaoru. Sachiko froze. All of that stress and tension was because she didn't want to answer a few questions? She slumped slightly after a moment.

". . . I see . . ." she muttered. Then she walked away.

"Hey! Where are you going?" asked Haruhi.

"I still have work to do," she said, not stopping. The Hosts watched her walk away, wondering what had gotten into their chore girl now.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, the twins were very annoyed by Sachiko by the end of class. Now, she was always quiet to begin with and they understood that she wouldn't say much during conversation. But now, she was giving them the impression that she flat out ignoring them. She would only give her attention to the teacher or her book. She would barely glance at them. She didn't even give an indication that she was listening to them.

The twins eventually followed Haruhi's advice during class and left her alone. However, they never thought that someone so silent could annoy them so much.

"What's her problem?" asked Hikaru after class and Sachiko had split from their group. He, Kaoru, and Haruhi were walking together at the moment.

"Well, she might not have been fair with you, but you guys didn't help at all when you faked that fight," said Haruhi.

"What do you mean?" asked Kaoru. Haruhi sighed.

"She might not be very expressive, but she did feel bad when she thought she might have been responsible for the fight. I'm pretty sure she was even worried about you guys. Then you went and said that was for getting back at her," she said. Okay, the twins felt slightly guilty now.

"But she still wouldn't explain anything to us," said Hikaru.

"Well, she told me that there were certain topics she wanted to avoid discussing, especially since they have nothing to do with the Host Club," admitted Haruhi. Kaoru frowned.

"But that conversation didn't have anything to do with the club. We were just curious. And why would she tell you this stuff instead of telling us when she had the chance?" he asked. Haruhi looked down, deep in thought. It wasn't until they were almost where Haruhi would split off for the library that she spoke up.

". . . I don't know. Maybe she doesn't think she _can_ talk to you guys."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sachiko walked into the music room, late as usual. She had walked straight to the supply closet . . . only to be held up by the twins.

"Hey! Sachiko!" they said. She stopped walking only because the pink-haired one stood in her way while the other stood by her side.

"Why are you ignoring us?" they asked.

"It's one thing not to have much to say during a conversation."

"But you wouldn't even look at Hikaru and me during class. Is this because of the fight?" She stood still for a moment before pointing at the pink-haired one.

"Kaoru." Then she pointed at the other.

"Hikaru." Then she walked towards the supply closet once again.

"Wait!" Deciding to humor them this time, she looked over her shoulder at them.

"You already know that Hikaru is the one who dyed his hair, and you still got us wrong!"

"Honestly, what kind of friend are you?" She blinked, giving them her now famous blank stare.

"I've already told you that you can't trick me like that anymore. I've learned your differences. Go find someone else to play that game with," she said as she walked away. The twins were left to stare in shock. Then she stopped, as though she just remembered something.

"And by the way," she said, "even though you guys had called a 'truce,' you're still not invited to my house." Then she went to work. The twins looked at each other confused.

"So . . . does this mean she's okay now?" asked Hikaru. Kaoru shrugged. Whatever was going on with Sachiko, it seemed she wasn't going to make it easy for them to figure out what it is.

**Took me a while to come up with a decent ending for this. At least I hope it's decent. **

**Anyway, I hope you guys like this. Please leave a review, tell me what you think, and I'll be back as soon as I can with the next update.**

**Later!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Wow . . . I was surprised to see how much time had passed since the last update. My bad. -.-'**

**Well, here's that long awaited update you guys been waiting for. Hope you're not too mad!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Host Club or the song. Sachiko is my OC.**

Chapter 7

As it turned out, things were not okay with Sachiko. At least, that was what the twins thought. She was always quiet to begin with, but now it seemed like she didn't talk to them at all anymore. She still sat with them and Haruhi during class. However, that wasn't enough to stop the twins from complaining about her anti-social behavior.

"Honestly, what is her problem?" asked Hikaru, beyond annoyed by their still late chore-girl. Everyone was currently hanging out in the music room.

"I don't think she's the type to hold a grudge," Haruhi thought out loud.

"We even apologized for the prank, and she's still acting like this," said Kaoru.

"Just what did you two devils do to her? Haven't I taught you two how to treat a lady?" shouted Tamaki, who was angry that the twins seemed to have done something to Sachiko.

"I'm worried about Sachi-chan," said Honey sadly.

"Haruhi, she talks to you. Has she said anything about what's bothering her?" asked Kyoya. Haruhi shook her head.

"No. To be honest, she hasn't talked to me about anything lately," she said.

"Not even during lunch?" asked Honey. Before she could respond, the subject of their conversation finally walked in through the door. What really caught their attention was that her dress was slightly dirty and she was limping slightly.

"What happened, Sachi-chan?" asked Honey. She didn't answer him as she tried to go about her business. However, the Hosts wouldn't have that. The twins hooked their arms under her shoulders and dragged her over to one of the couches.

"Don't be like that, my dear. While we understand that there are times you want space, we cannot look the other way when we see an injured lady," said Tamaki with his usual flourish.

"I'm not injured," she stated.

"Then why are you limping?" asked Kaoru. Sachiko, instead of answering him, turned her head away from him. This took everyone aback because she would never go so far to try to ignore a person. However, when she turned her head, she'd only went from seeing one face at her right shoulder to seeing the same face at her left shoulder.

"Don't tell me you were being a klutz again?" asked Hikaru. She frowned slightly as she looked down at her lap. This served to irritate him further. Had she always been this frustrating? He could only remember her being a quiet bookworm throughout the years.

"Sachiko, it would be in your best interest to try to cooperate with us," said Kyoya, "After all, you still owe us quite a bit of money. Since you can't go to you uncle to pay it off, you have to work for us, which is going to become hard to do if you can't walk on your leg." Sachiko shuddered as she recognized that he was hanging her debt over her head as a threat.

". . . I tripped on my way here. I just banged my knee on a corner on the way down. It's nothing," she caved. If there was one thing nobody wanted was to get on Kyoya's bad side.

"I can still work, though," she said, trying to get up again. Tamaki raised his hand, stopping her.

"No need! You can go ahead and have the day to just sit there and relax," said Tamaki. Sometime during all of this, Shiro, an elementary school kid, walked into the music room. Shiro had come in over a few days ago to be Tamaki's apprentice. After a day of him observing the Host Club (which was hazardous to business and Haruhi's secret) and a few lessons (which was disastrous), they learned that Shiro was just trying to make one specific girl happy. That girl was in the Classical Music Club with Shiro, so Tamaki was now giving Shiro piano lessons so that he could play a duet with the girl before she moved to Germany. This was the reason Shiro was now here.

"What happened to her?" he asked in an unconcerned tone.

"Sachi-chan tripped!" said Honey.

"I'm fine," she said as she grabbed her shoulder bag. If they were really going to insist that she needed to take a break, then she was going to spend that break reading a book.

"Do you need anything before I continue with Shiro's piano lessons?" Tamaki asked Sachiko. Opening her book and not looking up, she bluntly said, "No." Tamaki trudged to the piano, feeling put down by the rejection.

Sometime later, during a short break in the lesson, Shiro asked Tamaki a question.

"A Host's job is to make women happy, right?" Tamaki nodded.

"Yes! A Host must know how to treat a lady with the respect they deserve and put their needs before himself!"

"Then why is Sachiko the exception?" Tamaki, and the rest of the Host Club since they were within earshot, were taken aback by the question. Sachiko was the only one not paying attention because she was at the far side of the room and her nose was in her book.

"What do you mean? We don't make any exceptions when it comes to a girl's happiness!" argued Tamaki.

"Then how come, out of all the girls that come here, she's the only one you don't dote on?" Tamaki froze at the question.

"W-Well . . ."

"Sachiko is our chore-girl because she owes the club some money. However, the reason we haven't treated her the same as the guests is because she has never approached us as one. It is assumed that she doesn't want the attention," said Kyoya.

"But I offer her cake all the time!" said Honey. It didn't seem like he understood the question completely.

"Well, Honey-senpai aside, we're all friends of hers," said the twins as they pulled Haruhi to have her stand between them, "So we all so her better than most of our clients."

"Really?" The twins nodded. Haruhi just blinked, wondering if the kid was going to prove them wrong. Even though she had been hanging out with them more during class, she had gotten quieter than usual. Especially around the twins.

"Then what's her favorite food?" asked Shiro.

"Um . . ." The twins scratched their heads as they thought.

"She likes pasta," said Haruhi. While Sachiko's food did vary, pasta was one that showed up frequently and Sachiko seemed to enjoy those dishes the most. At least from what she could tell. Sachiko wasn't very expressive.

"What kind of books does she like to read?"

"Eh . . ." The twins frowned in thought. They would always see her reading. This should have been a simple question to answer.

"She seems partial to adventure novels." However, Haruhi was the only one who was able to make an educated guess.

"So far, for someone who claimed to know her, neither of you was able to answer any questions about her. Haruhi was the only one who knew!" The twins were surprised by the statement. Yeah, they didn't try to flatter her or anything like they did with their clients, but she still sat with them during class. They had assumed that they knew just a bit more about her than most of the other girls.

"That can't really be helped. Sachiko doesn't talk about herself much," said Haruhi, if only to give at least one reason for the twins' lack of knowledge.

"But did they even bother to ask her anything about herself?" asked Shiro. And that was one point Haruhi couldn't defend the twins on. The twins flinched when they realized the truth themselves.

"You guys probably don't even know where she goes before coming here," said Shiro.

"Actually, she hasn't told any of us that, even after we asked," said Haruhi. Shiro looked at her in surprise.

"Really? Then I guess I shouldn't have said anything . . ." he said, but it was too late. The damage was done.

"Wait. How would you know something like that? You don't know her either!" said Hikaru.

"No, but I did come across her on my way here one time. I assume she goes there every day before coming here," said Shiro.

"In that case, tomorrow you are to take us to see where Sachiko goes every day before reporting for duty!" decided Tamaki.

"Are you sure we should be doing that?" asked Haruhi.

"Of course! As pointed out, we don't know much about our second princess. Sachiko won't tell us anything about any problems she might be having on her own, but we can't let any girl wallow in misery. If where she goes every day is a factor in her happiness, then we must find out what it is so that we can help. That is what a Host does!" said Tamaki, adamant.

"But we're not even sure if she's in any misery. She's just being quieter than usual," said Haruhi.

"But aren't you curious? This could be our only chance to see what she does all the time," said the twins. It wasn't that Haruhi wasn't curious. She just felt like she needed to try to protect her from whatever wild antics the Hosts might plan as a result. Sachiko wasn't the kind of person who would like such an intrusion.

"Don't worry, Haruhi. I'll be there for damage control," said Kyoya, as though reading her mind. Haruhi sighed, defeated. She wasn't going to win this argument.

"Fine . . . but don't make a big spectacle out of it."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, the Hosts were sneaking behind Shiro as he walked through the hallways of the school. They were in the south campus, but they weren't near the music room they used for the Host Club. They were practically on the opposite end.

Suddenly, Shiro stopped. Everyone followed suite, anticipating what they were going to see. Shiro turned around.

"Okay, now you all are going to have to be silent. Not only to not give yourselves away, but you are going to want to hear what's going on inside," advised Shiro. Everyone nodded. Shiro then turned to the door next to him. He opened it slowly and silently.

Everyone clustered around the door before it registered to them that they were hearing something. They looked into the room to see Sachiko sitting before a grand piano. A small stereo sat next to the piano, playing a song none of them had heard before. Sachiko was playing on the piano along with the stereo.

The twins watched amazed. She was actually really good. She was finishing up the bridge and going back into the chorus now.

_Something is scratching its way out_

_Something you want to forget about_

_No one expects you to get up_

_All on your own with no one around_

Sachiko was singing along with the song, however, her voice was soft. She didn't overpower the singer on the stereo once.

Haruhi took a look at Sachiko's face as she finished out the song. Instead of the usual blank look, there was a small smile. She looked happy playing. But, that look changed into one of complete and utter surprise when the rest of the Host Club broke out into applause. Her gray eyes widened as she tried to take in the scene before her. How did they find her?

"Wha . . . how . . ." She couldn't even form a sentence with how surprised she was.

"Why didn't you tell us you had such a talent for the piano? I would've asked if you wanted to teach Shiro!" said Tamaki, who was in tears of joy. However, Sachiko could only look at the tears questioningly. She wasn't that good of a musician.

"Yeah. What was with the secrecy? There's nothing bad or embarrassing about having a talent," said the twins. None of this made sense. Why would someone hide the fact that they could play an instrument? She even went out of her way to not tell them about it.

"I . . . uh . . ." Sachiko fumbled with her words again. She was also fidgeting in her seat. She wasn't expecting anyone to find her here. This had been the one place where she could play the piano alone. It was no bigger than the typical classroom, and the piano was out-of-place here. It was also out of tune when she first found it, but that was a problem she had easily solved and from then on, she had her own private practice room. So why were they here?

"Say no more! I know exactly what to do now!" said Tamaki.

"You do?" asked Haruhi. She was wondering if that was actually a good thing. After all, Tamaki was an idiot. He nodded.

"Yes! The reason Sachiko is late is because she comes here to practice and somehow loses track of time. However, since she seems to enjoy playing the piano, I know how to solve the problem!" he said. Sachiko was having a bad feeling about this. Unfortunately, any objections she might have had died in her throat as the twins grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her out of the room, following Tamaki.

Haruhi grabbed Sachiko's shoulder bag and followed everyone out. She was hoping that this wasn't going to end in disaster.

The guys ended up dragging Sachiko all the way back to their music room. The twins deposited her onto one of the couches.

"Just what is going on now?" she asked, now having regained the ability to speak.

"Oh, so now you're talking to us," said Hikaru, pointedly. Sachiko flinched slightly, but she looked away from them. She had now resumed her typical blank expression.

Nobody would say anything to Sachiko for a while as they prepared for their guests. Sachiko could only look around confused. Just what were they planning? First they made a big show about doing something that involved her, and now it was like she didn't exist. About a half an hour later, they greeted their guests. They weren't cosplaying today, but they were acting like they had something special planned.

Turned out they did.

"Ladies, today we're going to be doing something a little different," announced Tamaki. The girls waited with baited breath. Tamaki then gestured towards the grand piano in the room.

"We've discovered a hidden talent amongst one of our fellow classmates and felt that it should be shared with you all. I would like to present to . . . Sachiko Narita on the piano!" said Tamaki. That was when EVERYONE'S attention turned to Sachiko, who was still sitting by herself on the couch.

. . . Did she stop breathing for a minute there? She probably did, because she was starting to feel light-headed.

"Well, come on!" said the twins as they dragged her off to the piano. They placed her on the bench and took a few steps back, expecting her to start playing. However, all Sachiko did was stare at the keys.

"Go on! Play something!" said the twins, trying to encourage her. She didn't respond. Haruhi frowned at the sight. It looked like she was frozen stiff. Her eyes were wide and she looked nervous.

"What's wrong?" asked Honey.

". . . Stage fright," said Mori. That was when it hit everyone as to why she might have not said anything about her talent.

"Uh-oh," said Kaoru, recognizing how much of a disaster this whole thing was not only to them, but to Sachiko. This must be worse for her than it was for them. Then, without warning, Sachiko just got up and ran out of the door, leaving behind several confused guests and horrified Hosts who realized the mistake too late.

"We really screwed this one up," said Kaoru, dreading to see how she would act around them now that this happened.

**Now you all know where Sachiko goes! But things didn't quite go as planned afterwards due to crippling stage fright! What will happen now? Stay alert for the next update to find out!**

**It took me a while to figure out how to write out this chapter, and even then, I'm not sure how it went. But, this seemed to be the best result of a few brainstorming sessions.**

**Please leave a review to tell me what you think of the story so far. I will try to update sooner, though I can't make any guarantees.**

**Later!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Damn it. I hate it when I lose track of time. Sorry about the wait. I didn't intend for that to be so long. Anyway, I'll let you go ahead and read the chapter now.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Host Club. Sachiko is my OC.**

Chapter 8

Sachiko ran through the hallways of the school. She ignored all the voices calling her name . . . or did anyone even call after her in the first place? She couldn't remember. She just wanted to hide away somewhere. That somewhere ended up being a janitor's closet. She didn't keep track of where she was going. She just ran into a door that felt far enough away from the crowd.

That . . . was one of the worst experiences . . . ever. Sachiko, feeling safe in her chosen hiding spot, tried to take deep breaths to calm herself. It wasn't something that was new to her. She was never good at dealing with other people, and she had eventually coped with that. But, as soon as she was placed on the piano bench . . . no, when everyone turned their heads towards her, looking at her expectantly . . . her mind became full of irrational fear. Logically, it was silly, but that didn't stop her muscles from freezing.

Sachiko loved to play the piano. Music was a favorite pastime of hers. That was true. And since the room she used didn't have a clock, she had often lost track of time. She was mainly using the length of the songs she played along with to try to tell how long she had been there (which, as proven, wasn't as effective as she had hoped, but it was something). That was also true.

However, she was only comfortable playing for herself and not for an audience. She wasn't that great of a musician. She recognized that, but she didn't want to feel even worse about it when hearing other people point out all the flaws in her performance. She preferred it when everyone ignored her, maybe even forgotten the fact that she existed.

She was better off alone.

She became aware of a stinging sensation in her eyes and her nose becoming stuffy. She had been trying to breathe through her nose when the door suddenly flew open.

"There you are!" Of course, as her luck would have it, the twins were the first ones to find her.

Hikaru and Kaoru had managed to find her after running in a direction they thought that she ran in. The rest of the Host Club was entertaining the clients (since they couldn't all just run out on them). It was the direction Sachiko's "music room" was in. When they didn't find her in said room, they were running up and down the hallway until they heard a sniffing sound coming from the janitor's closet. As they had hoped, she was the one in there.

However, what made them freeze where they stood was the look on Sachiko's face. Her face would have been blank as usual if it wasn't for the tears building up in her eyes and the flushed appearance she had from the embarrassment she had recently suffered. Sachiko herself wasn't completely aware of her appearance, but she was surprised at the fact that the twins had fallen silent. She was about to ask them what they wanted when they suddenly pulled her into a hug.

" . . . Huh?" Great, she sounded congested. She hated it when that happened.

"We're sorry!" Sachiko blinked, surprised. Why were they apologizing?

"We didn't know about the stage fright!" said Hikaru.

"It's just that, after we saw you play the piano, Tono thought that you would prefer to work off your debt performing background music for our clients rather than constantly doing chores," said Kaoru. Ah yes, they had to bring that disaster back up. Sachiko squirmed a bit in their grip.

" . . . I'm . . . fine with doing chores. I'm not that good with music, anyway. So . . ."

"What do you mean?" they asked, interrupting her. They pulled her away until she was at arm's length from them.

"You're excellent! You might be even better than Tono!" said Kaoru. Sachiko looked up at them for a moment. Then she looked down towards the ground. Was it just her or did her cheeks feel warm?

"W-Well . . . I'm honestly not that good, and why did you guys think that I would want to perform in front of others?" she asked, kind of curious and also wanting to draw the conversation away from her skills.

"It was the only time you smiled!" Sachiko stared up at Hikaru with wide eyes. Was he being serious? Surely there were other times she had smiled around them. No one went their whole life without smiling. Hikaru seemed to have read what little facial expression she did have at that moment.

"You always have a blank look on your face, no matter what we do. It looks like you're always bored, or don't care about anything. We did think that you might actually arrive on time if you came straight to the club to play music for our clients, but we also thought that you'd be happy with that arrangement." Sachiko didn't say anything. After about a moment, she focused her attention to their feet.

". . . Why would you guys care if I'm happy or not?" The question had thrown them off.

"What do you mean? You're our friend, so why wouldn't we care?" asked Kaoru.

"But you guys never wanted friends before," she said. They stared at her, confused. They were about to ask why she said that.

"There you are!" And they didn't get the chance to ask because that was when Haruhi found the three of them standing halfway in the closet and halfway in the hall. Haruhi got around the twins to see how Sachiko was doing.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Sachiko nodded.

"Yeah. I just . . . panicked," she said, not knowing a better way to phrase that incident.

"That's okay. Everyone else managed to distract the girls from that incident. Kyoya said that you can have the rest of the day off, if you want," said Haruhi. Sachiko mentally cringed at the thought of all of those girls in the room. All of them who saw her panic and run. Girls who were in her class and who she saw every day, even if she didn't talk to them. She might take Kyoya up on his offer while he was being generous. Haruhi held up her bag.

"Here," she said. Sachiko took it and paused before asking Haruhi, "Did you get the CD from the stereo?" Haruhi thought back to the stereo in the unused classroom.

"No. Was it yours?" Sachiko nodded.

"Okay. Thank you," said Sachiko as she walked off. The twins were left to watch her walk away. At least, until Haruhi grabbed onto the back of their shirts.

"Come on, we have to go entertain the clients," she said, dragging them back to the third music room.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

One week later . . .

. . . Okay, where the hell was she and how did she get here? Sachiko looked around at the tropical paradise she was in.

Well, she supposed that she already knew how she got there, considering that the Host Club had kidnapped her after classes. With them knowing where her safe haven had been, she could no longer hide from them. She recalled being dragged into a Mercedes-Benz, but not much after that.

Suddenly, some clothing had been thrust into her hands and she was being pushed towards a room marked "Dressing Room." She was getting a terrible sense of déjà vu. The twins managed to shove her into the dressing room and blocked the door so that she couldn't escape. Recognizing that resistance was futile, she took a look at the clothing in her hands.

. . . Did she really have to? The persistent knocking on her door and the twins' annoyed voices said yes, or she would leave with a headache. Damn it.

Sachiko left the dressing room a few minutes later. Thankfully, no one was in sight when she did. She gave a sigh of relief. She slowly made her way to that main area she saw in passing (thanks to the twins pushing her). When she saw the large pool and the Host Club either in it or around it, she stopped to watch from the sides.

From the looks of it, they were spending the day to relax. There were no clients to entertain or costumes to put on. Nothing for Sachiko to do, either. So why had she been included in all of this? She technically wasn't part of the Host Club, and she could only stay out so late on school nights.

"Hey! Sachiko, what's taking you so long? Come play in the water with us!" demanded the twins. Sachiko tensed slightly when the rest of the Host Club noticed her standing there. It wasn't that Sachiko had ever felt uncomfortable with her body before. To be frank, she'd never really cared too much about how she'd looked to others with her nose always in a book. But this was the first time she was in a two piece swimsuit around so many boys (Haruhi obviously not included). A deep blue bikini top and matching short skirt suddenly wasn't so comfortable. She wished she was wearing a pullover like Haruhi was.

The twins, when she didn't move from her spot, pulled her closer to the pool. The only thing comforting here was that she was now closer to Haruhi. Maybe she could just spend the day hanging out with her.

". . . Why am I here?" she asked when the twins finally stopped dragging her.

"What do you mean?" asked Hikaru.

"You're one of us, so why wouldn't we include you?" asked Kaoru.

"I'm not a Host," stated Sachiko in the same monotone she always used.

"It's also our way of saying sorry for the trauma we made you suffer through last week," said Tamaki. When he got next to them, Sachiko had no idea.

"I'm over that," she stated bluntly. It was mostly true. After last week, there had been girls talking about what had happened. Some of them had directed looks of pity at her, others not so much, but Sachiko did what she did best and ignored everyone around her for the book in her hands. As she hoped, the girls eventually stopped talking while glancing her way.

"Even so, it wasn't right for us to put you in that position, so please accept our apology!" said Tamaki with tears in his eyes. To be honest, Sachiko thought that Tamaki was overreacting. It was over and done with and she was over it. But, she supposed that if she wanted this blubbering blonde off of her back, she would go along with this for now.

". . . Okay." While Tamaki cheered over that and the twins were talking with Haruhi about pools and airboats (how that came about, she had no idea), Honey ran up to her and grabbed her arm.

"Sachi-chan! There's a pool! Let's play!" he said in that childish manner of his. Sachiko felt okay around Honey. Maybe it was because he was how she would imagine a younger brother would be like, even though he was older than her (a fact that still amazed her at times).

". . . Can you not swim?" she asked as she noticed the inner tube around his waist. Understanding her question, Honey simply answered, "But this way it's cuter!" Not challenging his explanation, Sachiko let Honey drag her away.

Meanwhile, Tamaki, the twins and Haruhi were pondering what Honey meant by his inner tube.

"How about putting a subject in that sentence?" suggested Kyoya. After giving it some thought, everyone came up with the conclusion that Honey planned it out so that he would look cute.

"Hey guys, take a look at this!" called out Honey. What they saw was Mori swimming against the current in the current pool with Honey on his back.

"It doesn't go forward!" he proclaimed cheerfully, successfully smashing their theory to bits. Sachiko, on the other hand, sat on the side of the pool with her legs in the water. She was letting the current pull her feet in one direction as she watch Honey play in the water.

At some point, Mori left the water, leaving Honey to continue to swim against the current. Sachiko hardly noticed. Her mind was off in its own little world . . .

. . . And was abruptly brought back to Earth as soon as something ice-cold hit her bare back. She fell forward into the pool with a scream. The twins stopped firing their water guns at Tamaki as they looked towards her direction.

"What was that girly scream?" asked Hikaru. Sachiko resurfaced in the water. The current was slowly taking her further down, so she swam to the edge and hung on to stop moving.

"Sachiko, was that you?" asked Kaoru. She looked at him.

"What was me? And did you two spray me with water just now?" she asked. The twins flinched when they realized that they must have hit her when Tamaki dodged that last spray.

"You little devils! How dare you spray my daughter with cold water?" yelled Tamaki.

"Well, if you had stayed still, she wouldn't have gotten hit!" retorted Hikaru. Tamaki flinched at the logic.

". . . I'm fine. It's just water," said Sachiko, still in the water. That guy needed to learn to stop overreacting to everything. To be honest, it felt a little nice to be in the water. When was the last time she had gone swimming? She couldn't remember. At least she still remembered how to swim.

At some point during all of this, the twins and Tamaki continued their game with the water guns. Tamaki tripped trying to spray Kaoru and tumbled to the ground. Unfortunately, his head ended up hitting (and breaking) a lever that was out in the open.

The next thing Sachiko knew, a wave suddenly swept her and Honey further down the stream. The current had gotten ridiculously strong. She only had a moment before she was completely submerged in the water.

"HONEY-SENPAI! SACHIKO!"

**Not something that I had planned originally, but it was definitely better than what I had before. I hope you guys like it.**

**Again, sorry about the long wait, but I have started the fall semester at my school two weeks ago. And I have a lot of work ahead of me for my classes, so the waiting period between updates might still be a while. That depends on how much I procrastinate on my homework (a habit I keep telling myself that I will break . . . the next day).**

**Anyway, please review and tell me what you think of the story so far and I will be back as soon as I can. Later!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Wow, this chapter was a bit more difficult to write for some reason. That and all of my schoolwork piled up on me. I'm sorry about the long wait, but I've finally finished the chapter. So I hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Host Club. Sachiko is my OC.**

Chapter 9

The Host Club, upon seeing Honey and Sachiko being swept away by the current, tried to jump right in to the rescue. However, their progress was severely hampered by the discovery of a crocodile pasture and a piranha pool. As it turned out, the facility was still in its experimental stage. And they were the guinea pigs. It was news that they didn't take too well, but they had other priorities at the moment, so they left it alone.

Since they had lost sight of their two friends, Tamaki had gotten hold of a map and they studied it to see where the current pool would take them. It was shortly after they had set out that they were forced under the roof of a hut because of a squall.

While waiting the rain out, Haruhi couldn't help but noticed how impatient the twins seemed to be.

"How long do these squalls last? We need to go out and find them," said Hikaru.

"Are you guys that worried about them? I'm sure that they're fine," reassured Haruhi. The twins turned to face Haruhi.

"Honey will, but you know how Sachiko is," said Kaoru.

"She's meek! She's the kind of person who lets herself get pushed around. You've seen the crocodiles and the piranhas. Who knows what else is out there? Sachiko wouldn't be able to take care of herself," said Hikaru, who seemed more agitated about it than Kaoru.

"We'll probably be lucky if we can find her unscathed in a place like this," said Kaoru.

"Well, Honey-senpai is with her. I'm sure he'll be able to help her out," assured Haruhi. However, her words did little to calm the twins. Seeing that she wouldn't be able to get them to stop fussing over Sachiko, she left them alone. The twins, having nothing better to do after a few minutes in the hut, went about poking fun at Tamaki (the poor soul).

The squall eventually came to an end and they were able to continue their search.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just a little bit earlier . . .

Sachiko was lying on the ground panting. Even with her swimming skills, she had a moment where she'd almost drowned in the current pool. Luckily, they had reached the end of the pool and Honey had helped pull her out. When she regained her breath, she looked around to see nothing but tropical forest surrounding them. And she had no idea as to where they were.

"Sachi-chan, we better get going! The others are probably worried about us!" said Honey. Sachiko nodded and got up. A stinging sensation in both of her arms alerted her to the fact that her forearms were scraped. When she thought back, she figured it must have happened when the wave pushed her down the pool. She had been clinging to the side at that time, after all. Oh well, she would get them patched up after they located the others.

Their walk through the forest had started out pretty peaceful. The only mishap that had occurred was when a snake fell from a tree branch and onto her shoulder. She didn't know what happened at first, just that her shoulder was now sore. However, recognizing the snake as a nonvenomous one, she watched it slither around her shoulders, fascinated.

"Do you like snakes?" asked Honey. He could barely tell, since Sachiko never gave much of a facial expression, but she was close to giving that snake her undivided attention. She nodded.

"I used to have a corn snake when I was a kid," she said. She was about to touch the snake's scales with her fingers when it suddenly slithered onto the ground and away. She was disappointed about its abrupt departure. She wondered why it was in a hurry. Then the rain came from out of nowhere.

"Hey! It's raining!" said Honey, amazed.

". . . I see that. Can we wait it out in that hut over there?" she asked, pointing to the hut with a straw roof that was twenty feet away from them. Once they were safe from the rain, Sachiko started to think of how they could get out of here. They had no way of getting into contact with the others and this place was so big it was almost ludicrous. Even if they were to go in one direction, it was doubtful that the guys were going to stay in one place, so they could be circling each other for hours. She would suggest just finding the exit and letting the others figure out that they left, but she had no ride home. Besides, she doubted that Honey would leave Mori behind.

"Hey, Sachi-chan!" Honey's voice broke her train of thought. When she looked over at him, he still had that cheerful demeanor. But his eyes suggested a topic more serious than usual.

"Why have you been avoiding Hika-chan and Kao-chan?" The random question had caused her to frown.

"What do you mean?" She had started to talk (a little) after the failed performance. Plus, she was in the same class as the twins, so she couldn't really avoid them, anyway.

"I meant why did you stop talking? You were opening up after you started working at the Host Club. Are you still mad about the fake fight?" he asked. Normally, Sachiko would avoid giving an answer to such a question, as the subject made her uncomfortable in the sense that it would be awkward to explain. But, when Honey started staring at her with his big brown eyes, she was starting to see why so many girls would act motherly around him.

The puppy dog stare wasn't something she was accustomed to having directed at her, so she couldn't help but squirm before giving in.

"I'm not mad about the prank anymore," she said.

"Then why have you been avoiding them?" he persisted. This wasn't something she wanted to talk about, but damn those eyes . . .

". . . My reason is going to sound stupid once I explain it," she said, trying to get out of it.

"It doesn't matter! We want to help you! None of us can help you if you won't explain what troubling you." She could feel the last of her defenses crumbling, something she had never allowed before. She was thinking that maybe she was spending too much time with these people, because she found herself giving up what her problem was to him.

"It's just that . . . back in junior high, I made an attempt to befriend them before," she admitted. Realization struck Honey.

"Oh yeah! You said that you played that game with Hika-chan and Kao-chan!" She nodded.

"However, as I tried to tell the difference between the two, I saw how they really were. How they would toy with people. They didn't seem to care about anyone but each other. I was starting to doubt whether or not they would let me in, even if I did win. Then . . . my life took a bad turn."

"A bad turn?" Sachiko was silent for a moment as her mind was pulled back into the past.

"Yeah. You probably already know what it was. Everybody else does. When I came back to school, I decided to quit the game." Honey watched her carefully. Her face was still blank, but her eyes looked sad now as she stared down at the ground. Then he remembered.

"Wasn't it during your first year of junior high that . . ." He trailed off when she directed that sad look at him. She didn't need him to finish the question to know what he was talking about. She nodded.

"But, wouldn't you have wanted someone to talk to? Why did you give up on trying to be friends with them?" Sachiko looked out into the forest, watching the rain fall.

"I did want friends, but I didn't want friends like them. They were terrible people, and I doubted they would have considered me as a friend, anyway."

"So, what did you do after that?" he asked, curious and concerned. She shrugged, the sad look in her eyes gone now.

"No one really had a good reason to associate themselves with me, giving my current status. In the end, I decided to grow up and fend for myself. I'd say it worked out well for me." And it had. She had been perfectly at ease with just sitting off by herself with a good book for company. She got good grades, and no annoying people bothered her. She proved to herself that she really didn't need other people.

"That's not true!" Sachiko looked back at him, visibly surprised and confused. What did he mean?

"Growing up doesn't mean doing everything by yourself! All you've done is live a lonely life! Everyone needs someone to rely on!" He suddenly got up in her face, making her wonder if he ever heard about personal space.

"I know that Hika-chan and Kao-chan weren't good at making friends before, and they weren't nice to a lot of people, but they've changed now! You had to have believed that if you were willing to be with them before." Sachiko said nothing. Mainly because she had no rebuttal. It was true that she thought they were being nicer, and she had forgotten most of their cruelties from junior high, but . . .

". . . I'm not sure if they changed that much," she mumbled. Honey's face turned into one of realization again.

"You're afraid that them being nice to you is an act, just like their fight was, right? That was why you were avoiding them. Because the fight reminded you how they were before?" She didn't answer, but Honey didn't need the confirmation.

"I'll prove that they're not acting this time!" Sachiko looked at him with the same blank expression. She wasn't too surprised about the declaration, but she wasn't sure how he was going to go about proving what other people's natures were.

In the end, she didn't say anything to deter or encourage him. The squall was now finished, meaning that they can continue their search.

"Hey! It stopped raining! Let's go look for them!" said Honey, already taking off. Sachiko was left to try to catch up to him.

They wandered through the forest for quite some time. It made Sachiko wonder if they were ever going to leave this place. She slumped her head, exhausted. Honey, however, was still cheerfully walking through the forest. How much energy could a baby-faced person have? Maybe it was from the unreal amounts of cake he always ate.

Suddenly, she saw a snake slither across the ground in front of her. She crouched down and carefully picked it up. It was cute, really. The yellow and white scales shined in the light. She could tell it was some kind of boa, but it wasn't going to harm her. Kyoya might be a lot of things, but not even he would bring them to a place where dangerous animals would be loose.

The snake slithered up her arm and wrapped around her shoulders. Apparently, it was very comfortable with its new perch. Sachiko continued to fawn over the snake as Honey climbed partway up a tree. He grabbed a vine and swung out of view before Sachiko looked away from the snake to check her surroundings.

. . . She was completely lost now, wasn't she?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, Honey had just finished beating up the police force when they tried to harm Mori. Haruhi was going through shock over seeing Honey (whose family was renowned for martial arts) beat them all up so easily. After the twins explained to her about Honey's family, Honey went over and patted Mori on the head.

"Takashi, I praise you for protecting Haruhi! You weren't too lonely without me, right?" Mori looked away.

"Not really." Honey smiled. The moment ended when the twins walked up to them.

"Honey-senpai, where's Sachiko? Wasn't she with you?" asked Hikaru. Honey was about to answer when he saw Sachiko through the trees. She was looking around in their general direction, but she hadn't found them yet. A light bulb went off in his head. He looked up at the twins in confusion.

"She wasn't with you? I haven't seen her since the wave took me away." The look of panic on their faces would have been hysterical under any other circumstances.

"WHAT!" shouted Hikaru.

"What do you mean? You were both swept away! You didn't see her after that?" asked Kaoru. Honey shook his head.

"No. I thought she pulled herself out of the water." The twins then ran off.

"SACHIKO!"

"WHERE ARE YOU?" This mayhem continued for about ten seconds with everyone else watching when Sachiko walked out of the forest with a snake around her shoulders.

"I'm right here. I'm not deaf, you know," she said in that same monotone voice as before. Her face, however, went from blank to wide-eyed when the twins raced towards her.

"Look out! There's a snake!" they both shouted, both of them trying to remove the reptile from her shoulders. Sachiko, however, stepped out of their way.

"Yes . . . it is. And it's not going to harm me," she said calmly. Both twins looked at her in surprise before realizing that she wasn't afraid of the snake. Now they were busy pulling her into a hug.

"You're safe!" cried Kaoru.

"Don't scare us like that!" said Hikaru. Sachiko frowned in confusion, trying to get out of their grasp. She flinched as her scrapes were agitated from the handling. Kaoru noticed and pulled one of her arms up for inspection.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked. She shrugged.

"It was probably when the wave pushed me down. It'll be fine." However, the twins were already talking about finding a first aid kit.

"It might be a scrape, but you don't want to risk infection," they said.

". . . Since when do you guys worry about me?" she asked. The twins let go of her, concern and frustration written all over their faces.

"How many times do we have to say that you're our friend before you believe us?" asked Kaoru.

"There were gators and piranhas all over this place! We didn't know where you were or if you ran into any of them. How are we supposed to know that you were safe?" asked Hikaru. Sachiko studied the both of them carefully. Honey's words were still fresh in her mind, but she still couldn't help but be skeptical. However, she supposed there wasn't any harm in letting them fuss over her for now. Maybe if she let them act as they wanted, she would see what their nature was around her soon enough.

She was forced to leave the snake behind, since it wasn't hers. They all left the facility soon afterwards. Sachiko mainly stuck with Haruhi, but she was being a little more open with the twins since they weren't keen on leaving her alone for some reason.

While that was going on, Mori and Honey were trailing behind the group. When he was sure they wouldn't be heard, Mori spoke up.

"You know it's not right to lie," he said. Honey smiled.

"I know, but I needed to give them a little push. Otherwise, she'll build her walls too thick for them to break through." With that said, the two third years left, being the only ones who knew what had really happened back there.

**Took me a while to get through this, and I'm not sure how well I've written it out, but I hope you all like it.**

**As usual, please review to tell me your thoughts and I'll be back as soon as I can. Later!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry it took a long while to update this. I don't really have a good excuse, so I'll cut this AN short to get to the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Host Club. Sachiko is my OC.**

Chapter 10

"The ocean?" asked both Haruhi and Sachiko.

"Yes. The ocean!" said the twins. At the moment, the Host Club (plus Sachiko) was hanging out in the music room. Haruhi had been studying and Sachiko was next to her, reading a book, when the twins had asked them about going to the ocean. The two were now rustling the girls' hair and grabbing their books, holding them out of reach.

"As of today, all final exams are safely completed!" said Hikaru.

"So, I wanna ask you two . . . You like the Caribbean? Or would you prefer Fiji?" asked Kaoru.

"I don't have money for that," said Haruhi as Sachiko tried to get her book back from Hikaru. After Hikaru finally showed mercy and dropped the book back into her hands, Sachiko started to flip through the pages to find what page number she was at so she could go back to it later.

"Well, where do you want to go, Sachiko?" asked Hikaru. Sachiko paused in her search to flick her gaze up at him for a second.

"I'm not sure . . . I don't think Uncle would like me going . . ." she mumbled as she continued to skim through her book. Hikaru frowned.

"Why wouldn't he?" he asked.

"Well, you are asking her to go with a bunch of boys. I can't imagine too many parents being okay with that," said Haruhi bluntly.

"But she went to the pool with us," pointed out Kaoru.

"That's because you practically kidnapped both of us that time. She didn't have a chance to ask," said Haruhi. Kaoru scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Right . . ." Sachiko drowned out the rest of the conversation as she finally found her place again. Of course, once she found the page number, she found out that she was only two pages away from reaching the next chapter, so she decided to reach that point first before putting the book away.

When she closed her book and looked around, it was at that moment that Tamaki was brandishing a bat at the twins. He was yelling something about the two sexually harassing Haruhi. Sachiko seemed to have interesting timing when it came to tuning back into conversations.

"So, you're not going to the ocean?" the twins asked Tamaki once they were safe from his wrath.

"Who said I'm not going?" asked Tamaki firmly.

"It's settled, then," said the twins. Sachiko frowned.

"Wait, what's . . ." she started.

"I have no objections," said Kyoya.

"Can I take Usa-chan?" asked Honey.

"Wait a minute . . . really?" asked Haruhi, who looked unnerved all of the sudden.

"Then right now!" said Tamaki, "Let's go to the beach!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Why did they invite me again?" Sachiko asked out loud. It was a beautiful day out, and the waves didn't look too rough at this particular beach. She was wearing the same swimsuit she was given at the pool (she had insisted to the twins that she didn't need another one when they tried to see what other designs suited her). She had no problem with the beach and probably would have enjoyed it during a different occasion.

However, Tamaki decided to invite all of their clients along, so what should have been a vacation ended up being a business trip for the Host Club. And from that aspect, Sachiko had no reason to be here as well since she had no work to do.

"Whatever the reason, you might as well go ahead and enjoy yourself. With your uncle out of town, we can take advantage of the fact that he has no immediate say on what today's plans are. It's been a long time since you last went to a beach with some friends. It's good to be able to have fun like this," said the brown-haired young woman wearing a dark green once piece swimsuit standing next to her, smiling. Sachiko turned her head to look up at her before returning her attention to the scenery.

"I suppose," said Sachiko in a flat tone. Seras, her care-taker, sighed.

"You are stubborn when you want to be," she muttered. Sachiko brushed off the comment as she decided to go explore that cat-shaped rock down the beach. Seras left her be to go swimming.

The beach they ended up going to was along the East Sea, and it was Nekozawa's private beach. The reason for choosing this beach was because Haruhi didn't have a passport and wanted to go somewhere close and no one else had a private beach that wasn't overseas. Sachiko didn't mind it when Kyoya had called Seras, who had agreed that the sun and fresh air would be good for everyone. The maid had only insisted that she came along to keep an eye on Sachiko. Sachiko agreed because she knew that it had been a long while since Seras last had a vacation. Plus, Seras had expressed an interest in seeing the friends Sachiko had told her about in passing before.

However, with all the clients around, Sachiko didn't even have the option of hanging out with Haruhi like she would have done. Too many girls fawning over her. Which once again brought up the question of "why did she get invited?"

Sachiko reached the base of the cat rock. It looked like she could reach the mouth by walking on the gradual incline up towards it. She was halfway up when someone called out to her. She looked over to see Haruhi walking over. Haruhi was wearing a shirt and a pair of shorts, since swimwear would give her away.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm just checking this out," said Sachiko.

"I'll join you, then," said Haruhi, walking up the ledge as well now. Sachiko shrugged. Haruhi was free to do whatever, although it made her feel a bit happier to have a friend to go exploring with. When the two made it to the mouth, Sachiko looked around to see that there was a cave that went into the rock pretty deep. Haruhi crouched down onto her hands and knees and looked over the edge of the mouth.

"It's pretty high up," she said. Curious, Sachiko walked over to see how high they were. Sachiko hadn't realized just how tall this rock was.

"Yeah. A person could probably die if they fell from here," she said. Their conversation probably would have continued if it wasn't for the fact that they had suddenly been pulled back and carried away before they could process what was happening.

Turned out, it was Tamaki, Hikaru, and Kaoru who brought them back to the beach.

"What was that for?" asked Sachiko in a flat tone as the guys were panting from running so fast. She never got an answer since Tamaki started freaking out about a skull he found at that moment. Sachiko looked around to see several skeletons lying around on the beach. Nekozawa had . . . interesting decorating tastes. Oh well. It was his beach. Sachiko didn't have a say in what he did with it. Even if it did look like a scene in a horror film.

As Tamaki freaked out because Nekozawa wanted to be closer friends with him and the clients were trying to cheer him up, Honey ran up to Sachiko and Haruhi with a plastic bucket and small shovel in hand.

"Haruhi, Sachiko, you wanna go hunt for clams?" he asked.

"Clam hunting?" asked Haruhi as Mori gave both girls clam hunting sets, "But it's not in season, and it's high tide . . ."

"Don't worry! We loaded the beach!" said Honey as he gestured to all the clams and scallops they could see in the water. Haruhi immediately perked up. Sachiko knew that this was because this would be free food for Haruhi, but she decided to join in on the clam hunting as well.

As they managed to get their buckets half-full, Kaoru joined in and pulled a king scallop out of the water.

"Do you like scallops?" Kaoru asked Haruhi.

"I like it. Thanks Kaoru," said Haruhi with a big smile on her face. Apparently that was enough to get the rest of the guys to surround Haruhi to present her with more sea creatures and shells. Sachiko sighed as it suddenly turned into a competition to impress Haruhi. She had been forgotten completely in the chaos.

However, as soon as Tamaki caught a huge crab that had a centipede on it, all of the girls who had gathered around to watch the clam hunting ran off screaming. Sachiko, who was still crouched down, was shoved into the water during their mad dash away from the small bug.

"Sachiko! Are you okay?" asked Seras, who ran over when she noticed the commotion. Sachiko nodded, her face still blank. She looked over to see her bucket had been knocked over, spilling out all of its contents. How annoying. She was surprised, however, when the twins picked her up by her upper arms and set her on her feet.

"Sorry about that, Sachiko," said Kaoru.

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Hikaru. Sachiko nodded, wondering why they were bothering. They seemed content with ignoring her a few seconds ago.

"You're so quiet. You need to speak up once in a while so that you don't nearly get trampled like that," said Hikaru, sounding slightly annoyed.

". . . Or maybe people just need to watch where they're going," said Sachiko flatly. Hikaru opened and closed his mouth before he scratched the back of his head, not able to come up with a response immediately. Meanwhile, Haruhi had picked up the centipede and thrown it into the bushes without making a fuss about it.

As the clients fawned over Haruhi and how manly she was being, Sachiko decided to take a break from this craziness and go read and sunbath for a while. She was still worn out from the pool incident.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A few hours later (and several antics she could hear in the distance involving the Host Club and Haruhi), Sachiko closed the book after reading the last page. She was surprised by how low the sun had gotten. It was too easy to lose track of time while reading (not that she was going to stop reading because of that). She noticed Seras taking a nap on a towel next to her. Sachiko decided not to bother her.

She got up, stretched, and walked down the beach once more. Seeing no one else immediately, she decided to go check out the cave in the cat rock. Maybe she would see someone there as well.

When she reached the cave, she didn't see any of the Host Club members, but there were two clients, one with short hair and the other with long hair, who seemed to enjoy watching the horizon from there.

"Ah, Narita-san!" said the one with long hair, "How was your book?" Sachiko frowned slightly at the question before answering, ". . . It was good."

"You must be lucky to be able to work with the Host Club every day," said the other girl. Sachiko shrugged.

". . . It's okay. Sometimes things get crazy," she said quietly. She was about to leave when they called out to her again.

"Hang out with us! It'll be fun!" they said. Sachiko thought for a moment before deciding that she would indulge them. She sat along the edge of the cave.

"You're quiet as always. You must have stuff you like to talk about," said the long-haired one.

". . . I like books and anime," said Sachiko, somewhat conscious of how that probably sounded lame.

"Do you have any other interests?" asked the short-haired one.

". . . I like music," she said softly, "Why do you want to know?" She was much more curious about their sudden interest in her.

"You always seem lonely to us whenever we see you at school. And you're always reading a book, so it's hard to get your attention. You seem like a nice person, though," said the short-haired one, "So we'd like it if you opened up more."

Sachiko looked down, not sure how one was supposed to react to this.

"What's this? You can get to the beach."

"Hello, ladies." However, she did know how one was supposed to react when three guys suddenly approached you from behind and start making unwanted advances. One of them had already grabbed the long-haired girl's wrist and pulled her towards him.

"Hey, let's play together," said one of the guys. Sachiko got to her feet, trying to think of a way to make them leave.

"Isn't it boring, you women alone by yourselves?" asked the one holding onto the girl.

"Please stop it. This is a private beach . . ." said the short-haired girl, a bit fearfully.

"So what? So you're a rich chick, eh? That'll be even more fun. Why don't we . . ." His suggestion had been cut off when a bucket full of sea urchins and clams was dumped on him. Sachiko looked over to see Haruhi with the now empty bucket.

"Let her go. She doesn't like it," said Haruhi, "Stop pestering her." The guy had let go of the girl, but now the three of them were ganging up on Haruhi. Haruhi had dropped the bucket when they started forcing her back towards the edge of the cliff. Sachiko stood there, wondering what to do.

Well, she knew what she _should_ do, and what she _could_ do, but her legs wouldn't move into action. It wasn't until it became obvious that they were going to throw Haruhi over the cliff that Sachiko managed to force herself to move quickly.

She was hesitant after she picked up the bucket, but then swung it at full force across the guy's shoulder blades.

"Ow!" He turned around to see Sachiko shrinking back already. Her eyes were wide, but they kept a slight look of defiance.

"That wasn't very nice," he said as he advanced on her. The other two were still surrounding Haruhi.

"A-As if I . . ." Damn it. Her voice was refusing to work properly. She could barely speak above a whisper.

"What's that? Speak up. I can't hear you." Sachiko didn't respond. She was backed up to the wall now.

"Well, then . . ." Whatever he was going to say didn't matter as he was cut off by Tamaki running past them to rescue Haruhi, who had been thrown off the cliff. Then, the twins charged in. As Kaoru took care of the other two, Hikaru grabbed the one in front of Sachiko before he started wailing on him.

Sachiko slumped down to the ground, dropping the bucket in the process. She started to breathe more easily.

"That's enough. Murder would be difficult to manage," said Kyoya. Eventually, the twins had cooled down enough to stop beating up the trespassers. Kyoya had advised the clients to leave and apologized to them.

"Are you alright, Sachiko?" asked the twins when they noticed her still sitting on the ground. By now, she had resumed with her usual blank look on her face.

". . . Yeah," she said softly. The twins were not convinced since they could see her trembling slightly, coming down from the burst of adrenaline from moment before. Her eyes were also dilated from the same effect. They sighed as they picked her up by her arms again to set her on her feet.

"Come on, then. We need to go check on Haruhi and make sure your maid isn't going to pitch a fit," they said as they ushered her down from the cat rock.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Everything had calmed down once again. Haruhi was just fine and had refused all offers to take her to a hospital. However, she seemed to have gotten into an argument with Tamaki because Tamaki had stormed off shortly after they caught up with them (although he kept looking back and looking like he wanted to talk to her).

Seras was relieved when she saw that Sachiko was safe and had thanked the twins for helping her.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay? Nekozawa-senpai has offered to let us stay in his guest rooms," said Kaoru.

"It's fine. We really need to be back soon," said Seras.

"But it's quite a drive back to your home, isn't it?" asked Kyoya. Seras laughed.

"I'm originally from the States. I'm able to handle long car trips easily," she bragged.

"That explains your accent. Okay, if you're sure." Sachiko nodded before heading back to where Seras had parked her car.

"See you later," she said.

"Man, even after that, she's trying to play it off like nothing affects her," complained Hikaru. Seras laughed.

"Yeah, she has developed that habit over the past few years. She makes me worry." Seras then smiled at the Host Club.

"But, whichever one of you insisted on befriending her, you have my thanks. She seems happier now," she said.

"Really? Was she having trouble?" asked Haruhi, curious and a little concerned.

"Eh . . . I'm not really allowed to talk about that," said Seras nervously, "Just know that she's better now and that I'm grateful for it." Haruhi still didn't completely understand but nodded anyway.

"Okay." After everything was said and done, Seras ran off to catch up to Sachiko. The Host Club went to spend an eventful night at Nekozawa's.

**I hope you guys enjoyed this. I'm not completely sure how I feel about some parts.**

**Anyway, this story lives! I'll try not to make you guys wait so long for the next update, but I can't guarantee as to when it will be, so I hope you guys will be patient with me.**

**In the meantime, please tell me you think of this chapter and story so far, and I'll be back with the next update as soon as I can. Later!**


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